Another quicky sewing project

BEI Design wrote: :My favorite RTW navy fleece jacket had a broken zipper, the :coil pulled away from the tape near the bottom :-(. I :bought a 26" two-way separating jacket zipper (I love to be :able to slide them open at the bottom when I'm driving) and :spent an hour ripping out the old and putting in the new. :It's like I have a new-old jacket. ;-)

I find it very useful to have a stash of zippers, for this sort of repair and for little handy projects (I noticed you mentioned you bought zippers for the other projects, too.), because if I have to obtain them to do the job, it's likely to get put off. (I had a pair of jeans that I bought too long, planning on hemming them. Only took six months to get suitable thread. Of course, now I have a lifetime supply, unless I make a pair a week...) I make a fair number of bags, and for those, I buy zipper tape and sliders in bulk, and make a zipper exactly the length required. But formost garment repair, I can find a zipper from the stash that's going to work. If I care about matching the tape exctly, I may go to the store and buy one, but for most new work, I use black, or an approximate color, and so can buy them mail order (which is much, much cheaper than the fabric store. Even if you only buy a couple...). Most RTW is done that way; it's really only invisible zips in skirts and dresses that ar matched as closely as possible, along with some the currently popular stuff that uses an exposed contrasting zipper as a design feature.

This repair required a color match AND a two-way separating zipper, I do not keep a supply of those in my stash. ;-}

I color-match zippers and thread (and that includes serger cones... ) for most of my projects. I rarely sew anything for which it is not important.

I have a short daughter for whom I regularly shorten RTW jeans, so I have a good supply of most of the thread colors for jeans top-stitching.

I buy zipper-by-the-yard and sliders for upholstery work, but not much else.

Not my style...

I like the online store

and Jeff at zipperstop.com has been great about making separating zippers in custom lengths at very reasonable cost when I needed them for some formal wear.

My fleece jackets have exposed zipper teeth (not tape), so I required the matching color.

Now, that would be a great project for a contrasting colored zipper, IMNSHO. Maybe a navy fleece with hot pink zipper, or the like. Or if you have printed fleece, pick up one of the colors in the print.

You're probably right, I stayed with the original color, I could have used it as an opportunity to show my wild side. What I REALLY want to have an excuse to use is:

Those could be great fun! Incorporate them into a design -- maybe a little crazy, but imagine a princess style dress with the two seams in front replaced with those jazzy zippers. Either a very short dress, or a very expensive dress. LOL!

Sometimes, those are the best ones to have. My black car coat is almost

20-years old, and I need to replace the zipper before it turns cold enough to wear it. Using a 2-way separating zipper sounds good, because I also like to be comfortable while sitting for any length of time on car trips.

Emily

My favorite RTW navy fleece jacket had a broken zipper, the coil pulled away from the tape near the bottom :-(. I bought a 26" two-way separating jacket zipper (I love to be able to slide them open at the bottom when I'm driving) and spent an hour ripping out the old and putting in the new. It's like I have a new-old jacket. ;-)

If you don't have a local supplier, Jeff has two-way separating zippers:

Another site, I have not ordered here: NAYY,

:CypSew wrote: :> Sometimes, those are the best ones to have. My black car :> coat is almost 20-years old, and I need to replace the :> zipper before it turns cold enough to wear it. Using a :> 2-way separating zipper sounds good, because I also like :> to be comfortable while sitting for any length of time on :> car trips.

:If you don't have a local supplier, Jeff has two-way :separating zippers: :

:Another site, I have not ordered here: : I have. Slow, slow, slow to ship.

Another source, not as extensive a selection as zipperstop, but much better prices:

Fast, cheap shipping, too.

Thanks! Lots of colors and they have the lighter-weight coil two-way zippers. YAY!

Thanks for the web sites; I've saved them.

Emily

CypSew wrote:

If you don't have a local supplier, Jeff has two-way separating zippers:

Another site, I have not ordered here: NAYY,

Thanks for the web sites; I've saved them.

Emily

CypSew wrote:

If you don't have a local supplier, Jeff has two-way separating zippers:

Another site, I have not ordered here: NAYY,