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Replaced a broken zipper and saved favorite jacket.

This is my go-to jacket for hiking. Twenty years old, I wear this light down jacket in the Spring, summer and fall.

Look up how to replace zipper tabs on the internet. My tips:

  1. Find a friend with a sewing machine and zipper foot (me). You will need that person to topstitch with matching thread.

  2. At a fabric store, buy a Clothing Zipper Repair Kit and a seam ripper.

On the side of the zipper with the zipper pull:

  1. Using the seam ripper, remove enough stitches to free the folded end of the zipper at the neck.

  2. With the seam ripper, carefully pry open metal teeth of the zipper stop without tearing the fabric. Metal teeth are embedded in the fabric like a claw. Also tried needle nose pliers and a thick needle. This takes about 30 minutes.

Once the metal stop is removed, slide off the broken zipper tab.

  1. Now you can slide on new zipper tabs from the top. Try different sizes. Put on the jacket and try zipping it up. Repeat until you find the right zipper tab.

  2. With a sewing machine, topstich at the neck where you removed threads. If you can, add the matching pull cord that came with the jacket.

TA DA!

LiterateHiker 9 Feb 27
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9 comments

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0

You can buy a new zipper pull at a fabric store.

0

This morning, I added a zipper stop to the neck. Different end stops came in the Clothing Zipper Repair Kit.

Easy. With no sharp claws, I squeezed it together with needle nose pliers. Tapped with a hammer for good measure.

This will keep the zipper pull from sliding off at the top.

1

I hope you and your zipper have a very tight future

1

Great save! It really isn’t as hard as it looks!

@Freedompath

You're right. It takes patience to pry apart the metal stop teeth. Once you get it slightly apart, the rest is easy.

Last year, I replaced a zipper tab on a friend's favorite jacket. Both times, I paid $18 for a zipper repair kit. In each kit, there was ONE zipper tab that worked for the jacket.

@LiterateHiker I do sew, however I am not a fan on installing zippers on anything! Lol my hat is off to ya!

@Freedompath

I'm with you.

My idea of HELL is to sew a zipper into black pants with a deep pile, painstakingly pick out invisible black thread, re-sew the zipper, tear it out.... into infinity.

@LiterateHiker nightmare! Too much anxiety there! I have done some crazy things in the past! Now I just want to work textile wall hangings!

0

Keep off the moors.

@indirect76

I live in arid Eastern Washington.

3

Recently described myself as ‘a jacket junkie,’ thus always looking for a reason to buy another one.. Though, I’ve a Woolrich down jacket from the eighties I can’t part with ..though never wear 😕

Nice work ~

Varn Level 8 Feb 27, 2019
4

Good job! My go-to sewing problem solver is to call my mother! She's in her 80's and at some point is probably going to tell me to fix it myself (or not be around to help me), so I really intend to learn to do this stuff. Thanks for the tutorial!

4

Way to be a problem-solver!!!!

3

I alos hang on to favorite cloting as long as I can.

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