My daughter came to me with a pair of favorite jeans whose zipper had come off one track. She bought these jeans a couple of summers ago at a garage sale for $1. They're still in good shape aside from the zipper. My daughter asked if there was a way to fix this zipper. I said I'd take a look and see what I could do. Fixing the zipper on my daughters jeans was added to my weekly to-do list.
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| I didn't think to take photos of this repair until I was done. So, this isn't the same pair of jeans, but how the pair I fixed looked before. |
So this morning was that moment to tackle the zipper. I unpicked the bar tack that is about 1 inch or so above the base of the zipper fly so I could take a closer look. This bar-tacking is what prevents the zipper from going too far down the zipper, which would put pressure on the zipper end.
I had an idea of how I would go about it, but needed further information. I searched online and found a couple of tutorials. One tutorial suggested working from the top of the zipper. I suspected this would be the wrong way to go about repairing a jean zipper. Next I found this helpful video, with step-by-step instructions. I did a couple of things differently, but the end result was a repaired zipper.
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| the clamped-in-place zipper stop |
What I used for this repair:
Of the things I did my own way, I found working on the zipper with the jeans inside out easier than right side out. YMMV. I also carefully removed the brass zipper stop with needle nose pliers, keeping it in good enough shape to reuse. I used the pliers to gently bend the metal stop back into it's staple shape so I could reuse it.
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| zipper fully functional once again |
After restarting the zipper, I secured the saved zipper stop with locking pliers, clamping the zipper stop through folds of fabric beneath both tracks of the zipper. I smashed the stop on pretty solidly, and it's likely it can't be reused a second time. I restitched the tacking by hand instead of using my sewing machine. Hand-sewing just seemed easier than threading my machine and struggling to sew through several layers of heavy fabric.
Not all repairs are worth the time and expense. Since this pair of jeans only cost my daughter $1, if I had needed to buy a new metal zipper, the repair might have cost $5 or more. She might be able to find a new-to-her pair of jeans at another garage sale for that price or less this summer, without the work of repairs. Of course, I could have scavenged a zipper from some worn out jeans, and that would be the frugal approach to replacing a zipper on second-hand jeans.
I frequently repair hems, seams, missing buttons, tighten loose buttonholes, and sew up tiny holes in fabric. Those are small repairs that extend the life of a garment considerably. Other repairs aren't worth it. For example, if a garment was poorly made to begin (poor craftsmanship or cheap fabric/thread) and is already looking very worn. Those items I would scrap and repurpose the fabric and save the buttons.
In the long run, knowing how to repair clothing is a huge money and time saver, as I don't need to go out and find a replacement for something I wear often. Mending is definitely a good use of my skills and resources.
