I grabbed my favorite running rain pants — the Ultimate Direction Ultra Pants — and noticed that the zipper on the pant leg was damaged — the slider was off on one side of the teeth — ugh!

The zipper is small and somewhat delicate and the pressure of forcing my shoe through the pant leg bottom put force on the zipper, popping the slider off the track.

Let’s fix this! What we’ll need:

• Sewing Needle
• Sewing Thread
• Scissors
• Pliers (optional)

(This type of zipper setup is the same as a pant fly, so you can use these instructions for that too)

This is a very small zipper – the smaller the zipper, the more delicate it’s going to be. 

Look and see if you can see any broken teeth or any teeth that aren’t nicely in a row. You’ll need to make sure that your repair does not include any damaged teeth or your repair is not going to take. 

In this example, I can see a small amount of damage to the teeth near the bottom, so I want to do all the repairs above that damage.

Make a cut perpendicular to the teeth on the side that the slider broke off and make that cut up to where the zipper tape is exposed.

Now, move the slider all the way to the bottom of the tape. 

Thread the slider back onto the left track, just like you would when you zip up a jacket. The only difference is that the bottom doesn’t have a pin to guide and help you insert the slider. Also, make sure you’re lining up everything as evenly as before.

Not only is this a small zipper, it’s also a water resistant zipper — notice that there’s a layer of material in front of the teeth, which makes this job just a little more difficult. If this is your situation, just be patient, as you guide the slider body on to the teeth.

Zip up your zipper to the top. If everything holds in place, we can continue. But, if the teeth come out of the slider again, reset everything, and take your pliers and gently squeeze the body of the slider together. Try to thread the slider back onto the left track.

Looking good. Now you’ll need to create a new bottom stop for your slider to hit, so that the slider can’t come off again.

Get your needle and thread out. Thread the needle, and tie a knot to connect the two ends. That knot will also be our stop for our first stitch, so make the knot pretty large.

Start sewing a little above where we made the cut, inserting the needle through the fabric of the tape itself. Bring all the thread through your insertion hole until you reach your stopper knot.

Make sure not to sew into the material of the pant itself – this is a somewhat fragile, waterproof material and not really a knitted/woven fabric that easily takes that type of needle we have and our needle may damage it.

Now, just sew a few loops across the chain:

Once you’ve sewed a few rounds, tie the off the end of our thread,

And you’ve completed making a new bottom stop. The slider should now be stuck onto the track, and not able to come off.

Below the bottom stop, you can then sew up the teeth not being used anymore, just like you can for any fabric tear:

And now the pants are repaired!

This is an pretty easy fix to do out on a trip and could help salvage your pants, jackets — and even a sleeping bag zipper. Bringing a needle and a few yards of thread are no-brainer. Tape the needle to some sort of plastic container you’re already bringing, so it doesn’t get lost.

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