Jacket Story
I’ve had this jacket since 2007. That’s 18 years! Half my life! And it was preowned when it came to me. I still remember the night I received it. I was a university student at a Christian university in Moncton, New Brunswick. People from the community had donated clothing to the students who lived on campus. There were other clothes I picked up that night, but only this jacket remains with me. It’s an Eddie Bauer, goose-down, waist-length, winter puffer jacket. It’s the warmest jacket I’ve ever owned. And the prettiest cobalt blue. I wear it every winter. Well, I tried not wearing it for a few years, but I went back to it when I got my senses. For me its the perfect fit, the perfect length, the perfect cozy warm factor.
The Problem
It had a 2-way zipper on it. I thought those things were impervious to splitting, but I thought wrong. It started splitting from the bottom, as zippers do. I had to continually look down and check if my zipper had split or not, and on many occasions, I would look down and find myself wearing more of a “sleeved cape” than a jacket. Front panels billowing in the wind…
The issue was that the bottom of the zipper tape would slide through the bottom of the zipper pull and the jacket would zip up unevenly. I tried to be careful but it would still happen. A solution was needed.
The Solution
Obviously the solution was to remove an old zipper and replace it with a new one. This jacket is like sentimental gold to me. I had to fix it. And given my previous success on installing a new zipper on an old backpack, I wasn’t nearly so intimated this time around. I also recall a time when my Dad fixed his own zipper by sewing a new one on his coat with dental floss, completely by hand! He is such an inspiration to me when it comes to zipper sewing (specifically) and not ever throwing anything away (generally). The latter of the two might be more of a problem than a blessing, you’ll have to ask my husband about that one 😉
The Steps
Remove the top stitching (I’m pointing to it here with my seam ripper)
Remove stitching that is holding the zipper facing in place (seen here from the inside)
Pin the edge so the seam doesn’t come unfurled while working
Fully remove the facing from the jacket (seam rip all the threads that are still holding it to the zipper tape)
Notice how the extra zipper tape that is past the zipper stop is sewn down at an angle? Take a picture and remember to copy this when the zipper gets sewn in again (I’m pointing to the top edge of the tape with my seam ripper)
Now, remove the zipper tape
Pin both seams down so they remain folded. This is especially useful if you want to put the project down for a while. There are a lot of threads here and some stray feather bits (if you look closely you can see part of my pin at the bottom center of this next image).
Zippidee do da! The old zipper has been removed! Take a break or continue to install a new zipper with me on the next blog post!
Happy Sewing 😀
