Laced sleepsack - step-by-step Part 5

Now we're ready to close up our sleepsack.
We have an opening in the rear of our sleepsack with a lacing strip down the middle. Time to put in the zipper and a tongue behind the laced opening.

First I cut the zipper to length - heavyweight YKK #10 zipper chain. I'll use masking tape to hold it in place while sewing.
I start at the foot and slowly position the zipper, pressing the tape to hold it in just the right place.

The same zipper snakes up the neck, and ends at the top of the hood.
Once taped, the one side of the zip is sewn to the sack. The other side is then sewn to the lacing strip.
Once that connection is made, I use the bulldog clips to hold the tongue to the lacing strip. That seam is then sewn, glued and flattened.
Here we have the tongue, connected to the lacing strip, connected to the zipper, connected to the binder.
The last step is to sew the tongue to the other side of the laced opening. Because we are now sewing an enclosed shape, we need to access the seam through the zippered opening. I use tape on the outside to hold the tongue in place.

A word of CAUTION: I am only using tape to hold the tongue in position after testing to make sure it won't mark the leather or pull off the surface. I wouldn't recommend anyone use tape like this without testing it first! Some leathers are easily damaged by tape stuck to the surface.
I did use a lot of tape, as I didn't want the tongue to come out of position as I am feeding such a large item through the sewing machine. The closer you get to the end, the harder it is to handle.
Once the rear zipper is in, I sew a separate zipper in for the hood.

Now our zipper is set, our tongues are in...
Just a couple more steps, and our project will be complete...