Adding a Zipper Guard to the Quadra Jacket

Hi there! I'm Anisha from SASSY Creations! I'm so excited I got to help test the Quadra Jacket and I have a little hack to show you how easy it is to add a zipper/chin guard to your Quadra! Because I made this one as a rain jacket for my son, I wanted a little bit of extra protection under the zipper since that's often a weak spot for leaks. My kiddo also doesn't care for the cold zipper touching his chin; enter this simple addition! Okay, with no further ado, here we go. ❤️

First off, sew up your jacket to the point of adding your zipper - but don't do the zipper yet! So sew just up to but not including page 30. 🙂

You will first need to measure the entire front length of your jacket where the zipper will be. This will obviously be a different measurement on each of the different sizes but will also depend on the collar/hood options you chose. I have the tall collar here, on a size 6 jacket, and my measurement is just in between 19.5" and 19.75". To accommodate for slight inaccuracies, I chose to go with 19.5". To this you will add the amount you'd like to fold down over the zipper for the chin guard. I went with 1.5", which means I cut my zipper guard 21" long, by 2" wide. Cut 2 of these pieces. I used a glass to round off one of the corners with my pieces lying wrong sides together, so they end up as mirrored pieces.

Next, place your two zipper guard pieces right sides together and sew around 3 sides, leaving the long side without the curved corner unsewn. Trim the seam allowance at the curve and the corner, flip right sides out and topstitch.

Measure and fold down your chin guard the 1.5" and clip in place. Separate your zipper and take your wearer's right-hand side zipper to hand. Fold the bit of tape at the top of the zipper towards the back and out towards the side at a 90-degree angle. Fold that triangle bit straight down towards the zipper again and tack it in place. You can now trim off the excess tape and use a lighter to melt the ends so that they don't fray, but I forgot and did it later. 😄

Tuck the top of your zipper up into the folded down chin guard, sandwiching the zipper and lining up the raw edge of the guard with the edge of the zipper tape. Baste the guard along the length of the zipper.

Continue to install the zipper as instructed in the tutorial. I prefer to baste my zipper to my main fabric before attaching my lining/facings so that I can zip it up and be sure that my seams and/or print line up, but that's just personal preference. 😊

IMPORTANT: When sewing your jacket main and lining/facings together, make sure you don't catch your zipper/chin guard in your seam at the top and bottom! Just push or fold them out of the way as you sew by them. 😊

And there you go; you've added your zipper and chin guard!

I hope you've found this little tutorial helpful; I'd love to see your creations in the Goober Pea Designs Facebook group if you care to share or have any questions!

If you don't have this pattern yet, you can use code ZIPPERGUARD to get 20% off the Quadra Jacket! (Not combinable with other discounts)