Zipper Concealed At Both Ends Tutorial

 It's good if you don't want the ends of the zipper to need a square of fabric or even bare. Because in this method, both zipper ends are tucked inside the fabric pieces. You don't even need to disassemble and reassemble anything. But it does take some maneuvering. It's very easy once you get it. And it looks neat!

1) First, cut out 2 fabric pieces in the width you want (remember the seam allowance!), and pretty much in the length of the zipper you're using.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: if you overlook this one, it's gonna be a problem. The length of the pieces that you want and fit the zipper, includes the extra bits of fabric of the zipper – the ones before each metal bit- those that you don't usually see after installing a zipper:

You can do it in different ways: you either cut the pieces wider so you will fold them in half to the size your pieces are gonna come out (include seam allowance, of course!), or cut 2 of each so you will sew each two together right from the beginning (right sides together-reopen and iron flat). It's the way you should pick if you want the pieces to be with 2 different fabrics – the exterior and lining fabrics. In this tutorial I'll show you the one wider for folding pieces.

2) Open your zipper just a little. This is so you could start sewing without the zipper's pull bothering you.

Place the zipper on one of the fabric pieces, its face down, at the edge of the piece, like this:

Now fold the fabric piece inwards, and pin or clip and sew, while you're sandwiching the zipper inside the folded fabric piece:

What you do is you start sewing from one of the top sides, but not from the beginning – you start almost from the corner and then turn to sew along the zipper's length. You're leaving a small gap, big enough to turn in side out later on. Don't forget to backstitch!

Notice that the extra zipper fabric bit I was talking about fits the piece so you don't sew over the metal teeth or the metal bits. The extras will get into it when you turn inside out in a short while.

(Sorry for the messy sewing, it's just for the tutorial!)

NOTE: you might need to move the zipper pull out of the way in order to sew beside it. In some cases you might, and that's okay(!) to stop the sewing before the pull, take it out from under the machine, move the zipper backwards, and then bring it back under the machine and keep sewing. You wouldn't be able to see that seam, so it's really okay! If you have a zipper foot it will help you!

The rest of the sewing is the same, with the other end of the zipper. But this time, you don't leave a gap. You just turn and stitch that bottom side (careful with the metal bits!):

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: when you're about to get to the bottom side, be careful not to stitch both of the zipper's extra sides! Only the one that's close to the edge. When you turn, push the other zipper's extra inside so you don't sew it (this is also true about the top side as well):

3) Now turn it inside out through the gap at the top:

See how the zipper's ends are tucked inside? That's what you should get!

4) Let's move to the other piece.
You do the same thing. And make sure the zipper is in the right side as opposed to the other side. It should be placed like this:

This time it could be a little tricky. So you need to pay attention to what you sew. Because this one will wrap the other piece, so be careful not to sew it.
Again, remember to keep the zipper pull out of the way.
You fold that second piece over the first piece (wrapping it), wrong side out:

Turn it right side out. The other piece will come out as well.

5) Now you have the unit with the zipper ends inside and unseen. But there's a gap at each piece's top:

So fold each one inwards, and sew the pieces all around, closing the gap while doing so. You don't have to sew the outer edges, they won't be seen later, hopefully:

This is what you have:

6) All you need to do now is sew it to the bag's lining sides – at the top edges. Then you sew the whole bag as usual – the zipper unit's edges are sewn into the bag. Make sure the seams won't show, sew the zipper unit close enough to the edges!

(When you need to sew together the lining and exterior of the bag, do it as if there wasn't a zipper. After your bag pieces are done and the zipper unit is installed, turn lining piece inside (while the zipper is open), so that the zipper unit is facing outside. Put it inside the exterior piece and sew as usual, while the zipper is flatted downwards. (Look for the deep zipper tutorial I made for better indication for what I mean here!) Then turn it all inside out as usual.
Don't worry, it's like in any other bag, just with a zipper, so don't be alarmed!
Sorry I didn't make a whole bag for the tutorial, it's not that needed to show you this method I just came up with.)

This is it!