Can Leather Motorcycle Jackets be tailored?
There are two basic principles to the ManMade approach to style and dress: fit is everything, and buy high-quality, universal items that will last. In order to help you hold on to those investment items, and make sure they suit you as best they can, ManMade is happy to present our latest series: The DIY Tailor. This summer and fall, professional tailor and alteration specialist Danni Trester will teach us some basic sewing principles and easy DIY repairs that every guy should know.
Zippers are awesome inventions that make getting in and out of clothing easy and fast. However, when they break they often render the garment useless. But have no fear! Not all is lost when sliders or teeth go missing. A lot of the times you can repair the zipper with a few simple replacement parts.
Here are some of the most common instances where you can repair the zipper.
First you'll want to get some supplies. You'll need a pliers, a zipper repair kit/replacement parts, a small flathead screw driver with a fine/narrow tip, a seam ripper, and a sewing machine or needle and thread.
How to Fix a Missing or Broken Zipper Tooth
1) One of the most common things to happen to jean zippers is teeth get pulled off the zipper tape. This usually happens at the bottom of a short zipper in lower rise jeans. There's not much room to get the garment on and off, so it puts pressure on the zipper and eventually pops the teeth.
But if the teeth come off the very bottom, or very top of the zipper, it can be repaired. If teeth are missing in the middle of the zipper, it will need to be replaced. It should also be said though this is a temporary fix. The zipper broke because of improper fit or a cheap zipper. It's likely it could break again, so if you're intent on making it last, try to keep as much pressure off the zipper when you're putting the garment on/off.
2) Move the slider to the bottom of the zipper.
5) Once both sides of the zipper are in the slider, pull the tab to start the zipper. Sometimes it's a little tricky to get it started, so wiggle the slider back and forth to get the teeth interlocking. Zip up the zipper further and push the tab down. This will lock the zipper and keep it from coming undone while closing the bottom.
8) To close the bottom, you'll need a zipper bottom stop. If you get the zipper repair kit listed at the beginning, you should have a few of these in there. Most jean zippers are #5 zippers. (The number of the zipper refers to the width of the zipper teeth in millimeters. So a #5 zipper is 5mm across the teeth.) If you're not sure what number you have, just measure across the teeth when the zipper is zipped and match that to the bottom stop.
