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enter image description hereIs there a good technique for repairing a zipper that is ripping apart from the lining? About 4 inches have torn away from the fabric and I really don't want to replace the whole zipper because it will disrupt the appearance of the coat. I'm wondering if I should just stitch the still-attached part more solidly to the fabric to prevent further ripping, or if I can get enough of the remaining fabric on the zipper re-attached to the fabric.

(apologies for any lack of etiquette here, first time posting in Arts & Crafts!)

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    I reckon this would be easier to give a good answer to if we had a picture of the coat to work from.
    – walrus
    Jan 4, 2019 at 10:01
  • Is the lining ripping or has the zipper come un-stitched from the lining?
    – Raqem
    Jan 8, 2019 at 21:27
  • The zipper is ripping away from the lining, about 5 inches so far.
    – AlwaysThinkin
    Jan 10, 2019 at 15:20

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It looks like the zipper tape has frayed, so there's not much left to stitch to. I think the best course of action would be three steps:

  1. Stabilize the fraying zipper tape
  2. Reinforce the fraying zipper tape
  3. Re-stitch the coat fabric to the zipper tape

There are a few ways to tackle #1. I'd probably douse the frayed zipper tape in a significant amount of Fray Check, especially right around the area near the teeth just where the fraying starts. Then, dig out your mini iron, take some fusible web (Heat n Bond) and iron it to some woven fabric to make some stabilizer, or get some medium-to-heavy iron-on interfacing, and iron it to the fraying parts (and about-to-be-fraying parts) of the zipper tape, to reinforce them with extra strength before you try to re-stitch the zipper to the coat.

I'm afraid that if you try to stitch it as it is now, there's not enough zipper tape to hold your stitching, and it'll pull right out again.

Good luck!

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    Thanks so much! These are all things I never knew about so now I feel like I've got some clue about how to tackle the problem!
    – AlwaysThinkin
    Jan 18, 2019 at 14:25
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    @Kerri, great answer, ingenius, it will save AlwaysThinkin from having to replace the entire zipper. I will remember this trick!
    – Laurent R.
    Feb 21, 2019 at 0:33

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