How to Fix a Separated Zipper

By eHow Fashion, Style & Personal Care Editor

A separated zipper can make getting in and out of your clothes a struggle. Instead of ripping the old one out and sewing on a new one, try these steps to get your zipper back in working order. See How to Fix a Stuck Zipper and How to Unjam a Sleeping-Bag Zipper for more zipper tips.... Read full How To Article

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How I Did This

eggleston
published this on
April 23, 2009

eggleston on How to Fix a Separated Zipper

I groaned as I tried to zip up one of the few pairs of pants I own that don't have massive holes in them from overuse and random acts of spillage. Why? Well, because I watched as the zipper decided to go right ahead and separate on me.

Then I remembered eHow and having an article...

on how to fix a separated zipper. Lucky me, I have to say, as while I know how to sew and I know how to patch, I have no idea how to rip out a zipper and replace it.

So, I pop on the ol' computer, find the page and gather up the tools I need. Needle-nose pliers? Check. Scissors? Check. Thread and needle? Check and check.

Prying off the stop bar was actually easier than I thought it was going to be. I thought these things were banded around the entirety of the zipper. Low and behold, they end up being just a band that--gasp!--stops the slider from coming off the bottom. A little pry from the pliers, and it popped right off.

Meshing the teeth together was easy enough, too. The only problem I encountered was when I tried to pull the slider all the way down as it popped off the right side of the zipper. I had to do some monkeying around with it and some work with the pliers, but I got it back on and zipped it straight up, closing the zipper.

A few bobs of the needle and thread, creating a stop at the bottom of the zipper, and it appears to be working as good as new. I went ahead and made the band a little thicker than the instructions called for because of two simple things: I wanted it to be a little more rigid than it was after six loops, and I had a slight open space at the bottom of the zipper that I didn't care for. I went 10 times around in total, snipping off the extra thread after tying it off in the back of the zipper.

Over the years, I must have tossed out more than a dozen pair of decent pants or given them to a clothing resale shop or even sold them off at my mom's rummage sales because the zipper was split. Now I find out that it's rather simple to go ahead and just fix it myself.

Good news for my daughter's favorite jacket, too. Her zipper split the other day on her jacket and now, instead of tossing it to the curb, I'm going to just get to work and get it fixed.