Sewing a normal concealed zip

I found trying to conceal a normal zip very difficult as you have to try to line up the centre of the zip with the centre of the seam.

1. First cut out 2 pieces of fabric that are the same size and ensure that the fabric is at least 3cm longer than the zip.
2. Then draw a straight line in pencil about 2cm in from the edge of the fabric on one of the pieces of fabric.
3. Now pin the two pieces of fabric together near the pencil line to ensure the fabric doesn’t move when you are sewing it.
4. Next get your zip and lay it on your pencil drawn line and then mark where the end of the zip is.
5. Before you start sewing make sure your sewing machine is set to a longer stitch length so you can sew a tacking stitch.
6. Then sew on the straight line to the point that was marked where the zip ended.
7. Now change the sewing machine stitch back to normal stitch length to sew the rest of the seam.
8. Next iron the seam open flat before lining the zip up with the centre of the seam and then secure it in place with masking tape.
9. Then attach the zipper foot onto the machine, so you can sew as close to the zip as possible this will help conceal the zip.
10. Now turn the fabric over so you can no longer see the zip and then sew along one side of the zip across the bottom and back up along the other side.
11. Finally, get the unpicker to rip the stitches to open the seam and reveal the zip.

I was not that happy with my first sample as the zip was not aligned with the centre of the seam and it was a bit too far over to the right. So I thought I would do a second sample and try to make it more aligned with the centre, I tried to secure it a bit better with more masking tape.

I am a lot happier with the way my second sample turned out as it is aligned better with the centre of the seam. I think to get a perfect concealed zip it takes a lot of practice so I think I just need to do more samples to improve.