Imagine this: you’re wearing your best jacket or your favorite pair of jeans, and the zipper suddenly breaks. Now, this is surely heartbreaking, but does it mean you should just toss out your garment right there and then? Definitely not! While repairing zippers can sometimes be tricky, you can still do it with some know-how and a little skill.
The big question now is, what should you do with the broken zipper now? Should you watch some YouTube videos on how to repair zippers? Should you buy zipper replacements from a reliable supplier? Or should you just let a professional repair the zipper on your garment to save yourself from the cumbersome task?
To help you reach a wise decision, the following are a few tips on how to fix zippers.
How to Repair Broken Zipper Pulls
When the pull on your zipper is broken, replacing the zipper pull is always the best solution. If don’t mind it even if you are not using an actual pull, there are several temporary replacements you can use, including a keyring, paperclip, or safety pin. You just need to slide it through the tab of the slider for the new pull to be attached to the zipper.
How to Repair Missing Zipper Teeth
If your zipper has any missing teeth, you’ll need to remove the tack at the bottom part of the zipper and the bottom zipper stop. Turn your garment inside out then use a seam ripper to remove the stop.
Replace this with a larger bottom stop that will be enough to cover the missing teeth of the zipper, making sure that you push the prongs of the bottom zipper stop into the material on top of the old zipper stop.
Grab a pair of pliers to close the prongs and ensure that it remains in place. Turn your garment back right side in then proceed to stitch it to re-attach the bottom portion of the zipper.
How to Repair Split Zippers
One of the most typical problems when it comes to zippers is that they tend to split easily. To fix this issue, you can take the zipper’s old slider of the zipper and bring it to the topmost part of the zipper with the use of a seam ripper to remove the stitching. You will then need to remove the zipper stop.
After you remove the slider, slide in the new one from the top in its place and ensure that the nose of the glider points to the zipper top. You will then need to attach a new zipper stop on top of the zipper to ensure that the slider will not be removed.
How to Repair Stuck Zippers
It may be a bit annoying to fix a zipper snagged on a piece of fabric, but doing it is relatively easy. A simple way to solve this issue is to rub the pencil’s tip on the zipper teeth repeatedly until the material loosens and the zipper is not stuck anymore. If this fails, you can also try to lubricate the teeth with some soap while slowly inching the zipper down and reapplying the soap at the same time.