I sometimes get a call from someone who is trying to put an invisible zipper foot on their sewing machine and for the life of them, can’t figure it out. A picture is worth a thousand words so…… Let’s take it one step at a time! When you purchase Coats & Clark Invisible Zipper Foot, it has a red, yellow and blue shank and a white presser foot. One of the three shanks will fit your machine. It will most likely be the red or yellow. The blue fits very old machines that thread left to right, instead of front to back. We will look at the red and yellow. First you must determine which fits your machine. Begin by removing EVERYTHING from the presser bar. If your presser foot snaps on, you will remove it and the shank (the metal piece connecting the presser foot to the presser bar). Your presser bar should be “naked”! You are now ready to determine if you have a low or high shank machine. Measure from the set screw to the throat plate. If your machine measures 1/2 inch, use the red shank. If your machine measures 1″, use the yellow shank with the ‘X’ down. If your machine has a slant-needle, use the end of the yellow shank without the ‘X’. Slide the white presser foot onto the rectangle on the front of the shank. Attach the shank to the presser bar, using the set screw. It may be necessary to take the screw off of the presser bar to position the shank. Lower presser foot. The bottom of the presser foot should rest on the feed dogs. If it is too high, some adjustment can be made by loosening the set screw and shifting the shank down slightly. This is why the opening for the screw is ‘U’ shaped. Shift the white presser foot so that the needle is centered over the hole. Test to make sure the needle goes through the hole when you turn the hand wheel and that the needle clamp clears the presser foot. In the picture below, the needle clamp is hitting the presser foot. You would not be able to use the invisible zipper foot on this machine. The Coats Invisible zipper foot is a generic foot that fits most machines but not all. Many sewing machine manufacturers offer an invisible zipper foot in their presser foot options. These work nicely with the smaller coil of the Coats Invisible Zipper. An invisible zipper can be installed with a regular zipper foot. The blog, Sew Serendipity, has an excellent tutorial. Invisible zippers are quite easy to install and many sewing enthusiasts agree with me, they are actually easier than regular zippers. I like that there is no topstitching! Instructions for installing Coats Invisible Zippers are included in the zipper package. Instructions can also be found on Sewing.org.
