A five-minute zip fix

When a simple sewing hack is all that's needed

I’d hoped to return from my summer break by telling the story of a beautiful repair that inspires and delights my readers. In the end, I decided I needed to write about the most useful mend I’ve done in recent weeks. It’s a basic fix but as it’s something that I use daily, it’s an important one. Plus, with two kids at home all summer I haven’t had time for many stunning sewing projects.

Sometime over the holidays the zip broke on my trusty Patagonia rucksack. I bought it a few years ago for about £3 from a charity shop. It was in ‘as new’ condition and I was thrilled. It has travelled with me to and from my kid’s school every day, to the supermarket, meetings and on holiday. But a couple of the zip’s teeth finally gave way and it wouldn’t close without careful coaxing.

To the left of the metal zip slider some of the plastic teeth have broken.

I kept meaning to repair it but I didn’t. And then a few days ago the zip slider just came off one of the rails! Ahh! I was kicking myself, thinking ‘why didn’t I mend this sooner?’ With a bit of patience I managed to get the slider back on both sides of the zip teeth so it was ready to repair.

I don’t know many people who like replacing zips. It’s fiddly work. Changing the zip on a technical water-resistant item such as this is beyond me. The good news is I have a sneaky zip fix hack that I’ve used before, most recently on a pair of jeans when the teeth at the bottom started to wobble.

If zip teeth snap, break or separate under pressure, I sew a barrier of a few strong stitches in front of the broken teeth so the zip slider can’t go any further. This prevents the slider from going astray and means I don’t have to say goodbye to an otherwise useful garment or accessory.

A few well-placed stitches put a stop to this slider coming off, all in under five minutes! That’s considerably faster and cheaper than having a whole zip replacement. And seeing the little red stitches makes me feel very satisfied.

My mending kit for this repair:

• Thick red cotton

• Needle

• Snips or scissors

What’s coming up this week:

• My mending pile: a waistband extension on a stripy pair of 80s trousers

• Next week on The Mending Kit: a visible repair on the cuffs of a cardigan

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