https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/reflective-tape • Posted by Maria T
Road cycling can be hazardous if drivers don’t see you. I’ve come off my bike a couple of times and while none were car-related being seen helps that's why it's worthwhile adding reflective piping to your running/cycling clothes. This tute is about making your own reflective zipper. The prep time is about 1 hour. The jersey fabric I'm using was provided by Funkifabrics UK.
Road cycling can be hazardous if drivers don’t see you. I’ve come off my bike a couple of times and while none were car-related being seen helps that's why it's worthwhile adding reflective piping to your running/cycling clothes. This tute is about making your own reflective zipper. The prep time is about 1 hour. The jersey fabric I'm using was provided by Funkifabrics UK.
Here's the finished product. You basically sew the reflective tape to the zipper tape before you sew in your zipper.
This reflective tape has no stretch in it. Neither does the zipper so you'll find this a bit fiddly but the end results work. I've used clover clips to secure the folded reflective tape onto the zipper as I sew. Use the zipper foot on your machine and a long stitch if that works for you.
Repeat this step on the opposite side of the zipper tape. You can choose to only apply the tape to one side of the zipper tape. That's your design choice. When you do add reflective tape remember that your seams will have more bulk.
Now your zipper is a reflective zipper and you sew it into your garment as per the instructions. This gives your garment an element of reflective tape, but you've made it!
Here's the final cycling jersey using Fehr Trade Summit to Surf top.