{Home} DIY: How to Fix a Broken Zipper

Once every year or two, we shop at a {name-brand} clothing clearance center where, in exchange for truly amazing deals on high-quality clothing, you occasionally have to deal with minor damages to your purchases. While it's a little more work to remove a stain, sew on a missing button, or repair an opened seam, the savings I get make it worthwhile to me.

On my latest trip, I grabbed several pairs of pants for Josh, but I didn't have time to check them thoroughly for damage before I checked out. When I got them home, we realized that the two pairs of jeans I had bought him had broken zippers. Normally, that's one thing that will make me pass up a purchase at the clearance center, but it was too late at that point. Not wanting to throw out two new, perfectly good pairs of jeans, I decided to try to replace the zippers myself. I thought I'd share a little tutorial with you in case you ever need to salvage a favorite pair of pants from the plight of the broken zipper too! It actually turned out to be easier than I expected.... So here goes.

How to Replace a Broken Zipper

You're going to need thread that matches the stitching on your jeans (they make special gold thread that is specifically marked for jeans). You're also going to need a brass jeans zipper - make sure it is as long as or longer than the old zipper. You'll also need a sturdy needle, and a sewing machine with a zipper foot.

The first order of business is to inspect the construction of the fly area of your jeans/pants. It's helpful to snap a few digital photos of the zipper for reference later when you're trying to put everything back together. Notice the placement of the zipper - you may want to make some marks with a washable fabric pen so that you see where it should go.

Just to clarify, I will be giving references based on what you're seeing in the photos, so when I say "on the left," it means on the left side of the picture, not the left side of the jeans if you're wearing them...

Okay. Now, after you've carefully inspected the construction of the zipper area, it's time to remove the old, broken zipper. Here you can see the missing teeth.... You're going to need to use a seam ripper and remove any stitching that is holding the zipper in or reinforcing the area. However, don't remove any more stitching than you have to, because, of course, you have to put it all back....

You can see below that I removed the stitching on about two inches of the waistband, the double row of reinforcement top stitching on the front of the fly, and, of course, the stitches on the actual zipper.

Once that's done, you'll see that on the left side of the jeans (if you're facing the front of them), there is an extra piece of fabric attached behind the zipper, which creates the background of the zipper when you're zipping it up (and keeps you from snagging your undies or skin in it - ouch!). When you remove the zipper, this piece will be loose in the middle, as you can see in the second picture below...

Once you've removed the old zipper, take the new one, and (making sure the pull is on the correct side), pin it in place on the "button-hole" side of the fly. This is where your markings and digital pics may come in handy. You can also use the old stitching holes as a reference. You're going to want to tuck the bottom of the zipper as deep down into the seam where the two sides meet as you can. If the zipper is too long (as mine was), no problem - you can trim it later.

Once you've gotten it pinned in place, carefully stitch it down using your zipper foot. If you're feeling ambitious, you can do a second row of stitching to reinforce the seam. Notice that you are only sewing it through the "flap" part that is on the inside of the fly. It should be folded out away from the jeans when you're stitching the zipper on, like you see below....

It should be looking something like this now...Next, you're going to reattach the waistband. If your zipper is too long, you can trim it off at the top. Don't worry if you have to cut the stop and some of the teeth off. The waistband is going to serve as the new stop anyway. Just carefully cut between the teeth.

Insert the zipper part up into the waistband, making sure all the raw edges are covered... It's a good idea to tuck the end in between the fold of the waistband end seam, like you see below. This keeps the rough edges of the top of the zipper part from sticking out in between the two sides of the waistband. (I hope this makes sense.... if you're in doubt, just study the picture below - in this case, pictures are definitely worth a thousand words.)

Once you've got it placed like you want it, carefully stitch the waistband back in place. Be sure to guide the needle slowly and carefully between the teeth of the zipper when you get to the metal part.

Once you've done this, the first side should look like this:

You can then re-do the double row of top stitching along the front of the outside of the fly. If your machine can't handle the thickness of the fabric down at the bottom, don't worry. You can finish that up with a needle and thread later...

Okay, moving on to the other side of the zipper.... the "button" side. The zipper is going to need to be sandwiched back in between the main part of the jeans and that loose flap piece in the middle, but just start by attaching it to the loose flap part. Use the needle holes from the old stitching to help you get it in place. It's also a good idea to try zipping it up once you've got it pinned to make sure it's aligned correctly with the other side.

As you can see here, it's going to be lined up about with the edge of the loose flap (I'm sure there's a technical name for this part of a garment, but I don't know it, and chances are, you don't either!). This is how it should look...

Go ahead and stitch it in place on the loose flap, then bring the "button side" of the jeans over on top of the zipper edge, and pin it in place. Once you've got it all lined up, stitch along the old seam line, like you see below...

 

Once that's done, you can reattach the waistband on the button side. Once again, cut the excess on the top of the zipper, avoiding the teeth, and pin everything in place. Tuck the raw edges inside one of the end folds of the waistband, so that the threads don't show.

Go ahead and stitch the waistband back in place, being careful to guide the needle through the metal teeth and avoiding the button.

Your jeans should be pretty much back together at this point. You can touch up any extra top stitching that you had to remove at this point...

And if there were any areas where the layers of fabric were too thick for your machine to handle, you can use your needle and thread to finish up the stitching. (A thimble helps push the needle through the heavy jean material.)

I also did a little whip stitch along the bottom of the fly area inside, partly to reinforce the area where the zipper meets at the bottom, and partly because having that area joined together makes it easier to put them on and zip them quickly.

Here's the finished view of the inside:

 

...and here's the outside. Good as new! I was really excited to learn how to do this. Josh got two new pairs of jeans out of it, and it saved me from having to pay a tailor to do it or from having to buy two more pairs of jeans. I hope you've found this helpful.... Yay for learning to DIY!

Needle Felted Nook Cover Tutorial

Well, after much kicking, screaming, and digging-in-of-the-heels, I have been dragged reluctantly onto the "e-reader" bandwagon.

My husband, a bit of a gadget geek, decided that we needed to get a Nook. He originally planned on getting a Kindle (my parents are huge fans of theirs), but the option of being able to use either the "E-Ink" screen (that looks like reading actual paper) OR the glowlight was the point that led him to choose the Nook Simple Touch. So now I can read in bed at night while he goes to sleep with the lights off, and everyone's happy.

(Disclosure: I'm an Amazon Associate, whatever that means. I've yet to see a check, but here's the link anyway.)

I must admit that, for all my protesting, it's actually pretty nice to have it. While I don't think I'll ever go entirely paperless (I love the smell, feel, and look of real books too much... Plus I'm a little suspicious of the "big brother" factor in having my library stored/managed in an online database that someone else controls....), it is a handy thing to have. The convenience of being able to instantly download and read a book is very nice, and it certainly makes traveling with a small library (as I tend to do) much....lighter. So, I do find myself using it.

Anyway.

Since we'll be taking the thing on trips and such, I decided that getting a protective case for it was in order. I looked at a few online and in stores, but most of the covers I saw were either terribly expensive, or they were designed to hold the reader while you're using it, with a "cover" that opened up like a book cover. To me, that sort of defeated the purpose of having an e-reader (which is super light and easy to hold since you're not straining your hand propping the cover open all the time), so I decided to make my own "sleeve" that I could pop it into when it's not in use. I took some pictures throughout the process, and I thought I'd share a little tutorial on how I made it in case you'd like to make something similar. The size could easily be adjusted to hold a Kindle, laptop, iPad, iPhone, iPod, small camera, or any number of other gadgets. So here you go....

Needle-Felted Nook Cover: A Tutorial

My first order of business was to raid my fabric bin. I found a few pieces of wool fabric that were large enough to do the trick, and I decided to go with this neutral khaki-colored piece. I simply folded it in half, placed the Nook on top of it, and "eyeballed" the approximate size I wanted it to be. In hindsight, I kind of wish I had factored in some extra fabric so that the "flap" section would be a double-thickness of fabric, but oh well... (You'll see why later.) Anyway, I cut out the shape (allowing for seams), and this was what I came up with....

Next, I pulled out my bag of batting scraps and found two fairly thick pieces that would add extra padding to the cover. I cut two rectangles that were slightly smaller than the wool to serve as the front and back padding for the Nook.

Next came the fun part! Always feeling the need to embellish things, I did a little needle felting on the front and back....

(If you're not familiar with the basics of needle felting, you might want to visit my tutorial video series or my simple description of needle felting, before you begin. You'll learn what tools you're going to need, basic safety tips, and a lot about technique.... which I won't go into much in this post.)

Here's how the front turned out, and I'll show you the step-by-step progress on the back.... I love birds!

As you can see below, I needle felted through both the wool AND the batting... this will help hold the batting in place once the thing's assembled. (Please note: you must do your needle felting before sewing up the sides of the pouch - if you try to do it once the pouch is assembled, you'll felt the front and back together, and you won't be able to slide your gadget inside....) Also, it's important to make sure that you're felting on top of something like a piece of thick Styrofoam or one of the special "brush" pads that they sell specifically for needle felting... You don't want to stab yourself or accidentally felt your pouch to a piece of furniture or something! You can see the block of Styrofoam I'm using peeking out in the photo below...

Here's a view of what it should look like on the "wrong side" so far.... Make sure you never do any felting with the two sides folded together, or you'll never get them apart!

And now, I'll show you how I go about felting a design like this.... First, I did a basic sketch with some chalk - you can kind of see it in the photo below, but I'll admit, it doesn't show up well on wool.

If you're not comfortable sketching a shape yourself, or don't feel confident about "free-handing" the design, there are several things you can try. I've seen people use cookie cutters as guides - simply place the cookie cutter shape you like in the correct spot, hold it down firmly, stuff some roving inside the cutter, and begin felting inside the cutter while holding it firmly in place. Push the roving up against all of the sides, and it will create the shape you want.... You could also get a copyright-free image online and transfer it to your fabric before felting.... I don't think I would use one of those "iron on" things though - they leave a "plastic-y" coating that would probably hinder the felting action.

You need to start with the "bottom" layer of color. I started with the bird's body color, which was green... Take a small wisp of your roving, and using your needle, "tack it down" in a few places along the edge of your design. Once you've gotten the basic outline established and locked in place, then you can go to town jabbing it down inside the design. This is where the "staying in the lines" coloring skills you learned in kindergarten will come in handy....

Jab away! Needle felting is a productive (and legal) way to work off some frustrations....

To save some time when felting larger, less-detailed areas, you can get a tool like the one below...

See all the needles inside? A tool like this comes in handy for large, less detailed areas, because it "jabs" the wool with five needles at once. It saves times, but it's certainly not necessary. A single needle will do the same thing and will give you more control over detail... it just takes longer.

After you get your base color down, you can start adding details over it. I decided to use some of this beautiful turquoise blue for the wing color... The same principle applies - guide the roving around the outline of the shape, tacking it down around the border. Once the shape is established, then you can start filling in the center... Incidentally, it's always better to start with too little roving than too much. It's a lot easier to add more than to try to remove some once you've started felting...

Make sure you plan your pattern placement so that they're both "right side up" when the pouch is sewn together.... the bottoms of both images should be towards where the fold of your fabric will be....

Continue adding details, working from back to front... To get small details like the eye, eye ring, and beak, you only need a tiny amount of roving....

Hello, birdie!

Continue adding to your design until you get all the elements in place. Just remember to work from back to front - the largest "base" areas go first, then add the smaller details on top. Be sure to felt each layer thoroughly so that it doesn't get pulled out...

For the mushroom, I started with the white stem, then added the khaki colored base layer for the underside of the top, then the dark brown "gills," then the red layer, then finally the white spots. You can get as detailed as you'd like... you can add shadows and highlights if you want to go all out....

It's starting to take shape....

On a side note, for my friends who believe I'm a total OCD freak, I've included a few pictures of what my house often looks like "mid-project."

Wool roving everywhere...

...and my studio room looks like a bomb went off in Hobby Lobby! Don't worry though... it's all cleaned up now. :o)

OK, so once you get your felting done, you can start assembling the cover... I chose some chipper red gingham to make the lining, then raided my button stash to find the perfect candidate for the closure.

For the lining, I simply created a small pouch with the right sides in. The opening on the top is hemmed, and the sides got zipped through my machine for a simple straight stitch. I also used a zigzag stitch to stitch up the sides of my exterior wool layer. You'll be sewing both pouches "right sides together," but only the outer pouch will be turned right side out. The lining you want to leave facing "in."

(On a side note, you could extend the back side of the lining to serve as a lining for the "flap" part, if you didn't double over the wool when you cut the flap section earlier.)

Before you sew in the lining, it's a good idea to make sure your Nook or other device will slide inside both the lining and the exterior shell...

Once you've tested the pockets for size, simply slide the lining into the pouch, and whip stitch around the top, attaching the lining to the exterior all the way around. (If you used the interior lining to extend up the flap area, you'd need to adjust your sewing to tack that part in...) I used a snazzy red wool yarn to do all of my visible stitching.

I sewed on my button, cut a button hole in the area of the flap that lined up with my button placement, then whipped around the raw edge of the button hole with the yarn. Then for some extra flair (and also to help anchor the batting around the inside edges), I did a blanket stitch around the edges of the pouch and the raw edges of the flap to finish it off....

And there it is - the finished Nook case!

And here's the back.... The birdies make me smile every time I look at it...

Here you can see a closer view of how I attached the lining, and finished off the edge of the flap and button hole.

And - yay! - my Nook fits snugly inside when I'm not using it!

I hope you've enjoyed this little tutorial and that maybe it has inspired you to try your hand at needle felting! This was an example of 2-dimensional needle felting, and it can be applied to just about any fabric item you'd like to use it on... (Hats, gloves, scarves, ... your couch??? I've even seen it done on jeans!).

If you'd like to learn a little more about 3-dimensional needle felting, please check out my tutorial video series on how to make a needle felted Teddy bear!

Thanks for reading!