Is your zipper starting to give you trouble? Don’t worry because there are many things you can do to fix the issue in no time.
Yes, you can fix that broken zipper on your favorite bag. Remove the old zipper slider from the zipper first. In order to do it, bring the slider to the upper part of the zipper. A seam ripper can be used for removing the fabric stitching if necessary. See to it that you take away the zipper stop, if ever there is one. You can use pliers to cut it.
After the zipper slider has been taken off, you can now slide the new one on from the zipper’s top while making sure that the nose of the zipper slider faces toward the upper portion of the zipper. You can now attach the new zipper top stop on the zipper’s top. Again, you can do it with the help of pliers.
Fixing a Tent’s Closed-Loop Zippers
First, you should remove the stitching surrounding the lower portion of the zipper using a seam ripper. See to it that you remove the metal stop at the lower part of the zipper without causing any tears on the fabric. You can now remove old zipper slider. Get the new zipper slider then place the zipper teeth on the slider’s top grooves. Push these through to the lower portion.
Gently pull the zipper to test the proper placement of the slider on the zipper tracks. Once again, the slider must be installed with the nose first. When everything is already intact, you need to pull up the slider until the locked track teeth can be seen on the bottom. Sew the new stop at the lower portion of the zipper tracks.
Zipper Teeth Don’t Close
If you find it hard to close the zipper on a suitcase or bag, this can be because of worn out teeth. To fix it, you can use petroleum jelly or candle wax to lubricate the teeth a bit. Just make sure that lubricant won’t end up clogging the teeth.
Fixing Excessively Long Zippers
For zippers that are too long that they flap past the item’s length, you will need to cut the zipper starting from the bottom. With the use of pliers, you should take out the metal stoppers from the cut-off piece then attach it again to where you like it to be. You only need to pry open the teeth, remove then apply a little force for reattaching the bands in the preferred spot. If the zipper no longer has metal stoppers, get a needle and thread so you can form stopping stitches on the lower portion of the zipper.
Shortening Molded-Tooth Zippers
A molded-tooth zipper has strong molded teeth that were fused onto the zipper tape. When fixing molded-tooth zipper, make a precise cutting of the top portion because the teeth must be numbered. For zippers with grooved top stop, slide the teeth in and tighten using pliers. You can also remove the teeth and grip them on top of the mark using a pair of pliers and pull until you get them out. Squeeze the stop in its place on top of last tooth on both sides.
If these fixes don’t work, don’t worry because you can always look for zipper replacements.