How To Replace a Zipper in a Jacket or Coat

If you read my last post on How Much To Charge To Replace a Zipper, I promised I’d be back to show you how to put in a new zipper.

Here’s the jacket with the broken zipper:

The zipper teeth didn’t hold together when the jacket was zipped:

Before you begin, be sure and choose a zipper that is long enough for the jacket opening.

Try to buy a zipper that is the same length as the current zipper.

If that is not possible, get one that is longer.

You can always shorten the top of the zipper.

Here are two different types of jacket zippers:

The zipper on the left is a heavy duty silver metal zipper.

The one on the right is made of durable nylon.

For this jacket, the metal zipper was chosen.

Before you buy the zipper, zip it up and down several times to make sure it doesn’t stick and that it actually works.

You’d hate to sew it in and find out it was defective.

You’d only do that once!

If your zipper tape is wrinkled, you could iron it, but be careful that you don’t hit the teeth on the nylon zippers with the hot iron.

I don’t usually have that problem with jacket zippers.

But occasionally, a dress or pant zipper is wrinkled.

Let’s begin.

I start by grabbing my seam ripper and pulling out the stitches just below the zipper:

Pull out all of the stitches on both sides of the jacket.

As you can see, there is another row of stitching right next to the zipper tape.

It needs to come out too:

Here is what this jacket looks like as the zipper is being taken out.

I think it’s funny that the manufacturer used pink thread:

Here’s another look… near a snap:

I’ll show you how to deal with the snap in a moment.

Before I take the zipper out of the top edge of the jacket, I pay attention to any detail I need to, so that I can put the new zipper back in the same way, if possible.

The zipper tape at the top is usually folded back inside the jacket so it doesn’t show from the outside.

You can’t see that on this jacket, but just take mental notes as you disassemble the area:

Once you take out the entire zipper, be sure to take out all the loose little threads.

Sometimes, a lint roller is very helpful with this stage:

I insert the zipper making sure the correct side of the zipper is on the corresponding correct side of the jacket and pin it every couple of inches:

I like to pin because it anchors the zipper down enough so it doesn’t move as I sew.

If you are uncomfortable doing this, you can always hand baste the zipper in place.

Be sure to pin or baste the zipper so that the teeth won’t get caught in the fold of the fabric edge when you zip it.

I don’t measure this. I just eyeball it and give it about an eighth of an inch clearance.

Make sure that the lining of the jacket is lined up correctly to before you pin or baste.

You don’t want that bunched up at all.

Now, let’s talk about the snaps, if you have them.

When you get to a snap, you may notice that the zipper tape doesn’t fit down into the “hole” too well.

The snap is in the way.

Do you see how the zipper tape rises too high because of the snap?

I place a pin right next to the snap on the zipper tape (see photo below).

It doesn’t have to be perfect placement as you’ll see in a moment.

You just want a visual marker:

Next, with a pair of scissors, notch out a little semi circle on the zipper tape just below your pin, like this:

That semi circle is going to fit over the top of the snap.

Now, remove that pin.

It has done its job.

Place the zipper tape back in the hole and continue pinning:

See how slick that looks?

Your zipper will not pull out because you have that notch.

Trust me on this!

Once the entire zipper is pinned in, put your zipper foot onto your sewing machine.

I also use a denim weight needle.

They are better suited to a jacket than an all purpose needle.

Begin stitching.

Stitch on the stitching line where the original zipper was, being careful not to run over your pins.

Take them out just before you get to them:

When you get to a snap, just stay on course.

You shouldn’t have any trouble staying on the original stitching line.

You might think from the photo above that there would be a small pucker.

To avoid that, I just make sure to hold it tightly as I sew.

Let’s look at how that stitching line looks near the snap:

When you reach the bottom of the zipper, you’ll notice that the zipper tape has a thick, stiff area about one inch long.

I go slowly over this area.

Sometimes, I may even “walk” my needle over the stiff area so that I don’t break my needle.

You may have noticed that the original zipper ended a few inches above the bottom edge of the jacket:

The new zipper was longer and it fit perfectly into the bottom of the jacket:

If your zipper is too long, just fold the excess under at the top.

If it is several inches too long, leave about an inch or more so you can fold it under at the top.

Some people don’t like any bulk from the zipper, so they cut it off.

If you do that, just make sure you have some extra so you don’t have a raw edge at the top.

You may need to whip stitch the top zipper teeth so that the zipper slide (or pull) doesn’t come off.

You don’t need to worry about that second line of stitching that was next to the zipper tape.

This one row will hold your zipper in tightly.

Here is the finished zipper:

 

I know you’ll have great success too!

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