Last weekend we had our annual student showcase and during the first show I had a zipper in a costume break on me. Thankfully I had one that I could use at home, so I took the costume home with me overnight to replace the zipper. It didn’t take long to fix at all and the costume is just like new again. Let me show you what I did!
Tools/Materials Needed
- Seam Ripper
- Iron/Ironing Board or Pad
- Sewing Machine w/Invisible Zipper Foot
- Pins or Clips
- Marking Tool
- New Zipper
- Matching Thread
- Hand Needle
I bought my stash zipper from Wawak, but you can get them from vendors on Etsy or stores in your city’s garment district (if you have one). I pretty much only use zippers made by YKK and they are the most reliable zippers out there. Even though they take a little effort to find, they are cheaper than the ones from your big box store.
Method
- Rip out broken zipper, taking care to understand how to finish the new zipper. I took a couple photos as I did this the night I brought the costume home. This dress had the zipper tape folded over the top of the seam allowance and sewn in place, then the seam allowance is folded back and tacked in place at the top of the dress.
- Install the new zipper. I tried looking up the tutorial that taught me how to sew in invisible zippers, but it looks like the website doesn’t exist anymore and I can’t find the tutorial on Archive.org. There are many good ones out there now, including ones with videos (I learned from photos!). Here’s one from ColetteHQ which I think uses a similar process.
- Finish the top of the zipper tape using the notes or photos you took earlier.
A couple tips I’ve used which help me install invisible zippers are:
- Unzip the zipper and iron out the zipper tape, being careful not to melt the teeth.
- After sewing in the first side, zip up the zipper and carefully mark any matching points with a fine-tipped marking tool. I like the Sewline mechanical pencil for this.
I was able to replace the zipper and finish up the ends in about a half hour. Look at that great seam match! When I wore the dress for our show later that day, the zipper worked perfectly.
I hope this gives you the confidence to try replacing an invisible zipper! I feel a sense of personal connection to things I’ve made, mended, or altered, and it’s especially nice when you have everything you need at home! Have you had to replace an invisible zipper? What mending or alteration task do you find satisfying?
