Freestanding Lace Zipper Pulls

Freestanding lace zipper pulls are a fun finishing touch to add to a bag or pouch, especially when gifting it to a special someone. Plus, zipper pulls are easy to create using fun earring designs, like the featured pair from Designs by Babymoon. Find these, and eight more, styles of freestanding lace heart earrings files in our Freestanding Lace Earrings Kit. And watch how they come together as earrings in our Love-ly Earrings Webcast, with Sheila Ryan, the mastermind behind Designs by Babymoon.

ZIPPER PULL SUPPLIES

• FSL Earrings Designs (featured are from our Freestanding Lace Earrings Kit)
• Sulky Fabri-Solvy™ Stabilizer
• Sulky Poly Deco™ Thread (featured design requires 4 spools of coordinating colors)
• Organ® size 75/11 Embroidery Needles
• (2) jump rings
• (2) beads, sequins or rhinestones
• Zipper Pouch Pattern of your choice (featured pattern is modified from our “Quilty Zip Pouch” pattern, first released with our 2023 Mega Mystery Box)

The same materials used in the Freestanding Lace Love-ly Earrings Kit is suitable for zipper pulls, too! Bonus – you’ll receive earring hardware to make those, too! You’ll also need a zipper that has a hole in the pull so you can attach a jump ring for the zipper pulls.

POUCH PATTERN

Zipper Pouch patterns are easy to come by. The featured pattern first appeared in our 2023 Mega Mystery Box, but featured patchwork panels for the exterior fabric. A few more modifications were made but the overall construction is the same. The boxed base provides nice support and structure to the pouch, too.

The second modification to this pattern was to add a strip of lace trim to the front exterior fabric. This is a great use for leftover trim, ribbon or the like, that’s not large enough for another project. Dive into your stash to find treasures, like this one, and topstitch the trim down one side of one (or both) exterior fabric pieces. This just adds another little element to the pouch, taking it from “basic” to “special.”

In order to use an existing zipper that was too short for the fabrics, small fabric rectangles were stitched to both zipper ends, extending the length. This also made it easier to stitch the pouch sides since there were no zipper teeth to contend with.

The last modification was to the earrings designs themselves. Poly Sparkle was used for the last butterfly detail stitching, mimicking the metallic accents on the pouch fabric and adding a touch of glitz!

ZIPPER PULLS

To create the zipper pulls, hoop two layers of Sulky Fabri-Solvy in the chosen hoop size. Pin the stabilizer layers just beyond the hoop edges.

Embroider the chosen design(s), using the same thread in the bobbin as the needle for each thread change. This ensures the freestanding lace looks just as pretty from behind as it does on the front.

When the embroidery is complete, remove the stabilizer from the hoop. Then, trim the designs slightly beyond the stitching.

Rinse away the stabilizer under warm water. If desired, soak the pieces in a bowl of water for about 20 minutes. Then, let the pieces dry flat on a towel.

Once dry, assemble the pulls however you like! For the featured designs, the small heart was connected to the large heart using a jump ring. Then, a small bead was glued to the large-heart lower edge. The zipper pull is then attached to the zipper using another jump ring.

The other great part about using earring designs for zipper pulls is that you have a second set to make another pouch or attach to a key ring or swivel clip!

LEARN MORE IN OUR FREE WEBCAST: FREESTANDING LOVE-LY EARRINGS. REGISTER NOW & WATCH ON-DEMAND>