How to Sew Zipper on Leather? The Main Aspects of Broken Lock Replacement

Sooner or later, almost everyone is faced with the need to repair clothes, in particular, to replace or repair a levin. Latches are sewn to different products in diverse ways, and natural skin clothing requires special attention since careless work can damage the skin coating and it will lose its integrity.

Features of fixing or replacement of locks on different leather clothes are fundamentally various. For example, bags and jackets differ not only in appearance but also in aspects of zipper fastening.

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Even on trousers, the latch should be sewn up very correctly, since leather clothing loses its shape due to the integrity of the seams — and most often this issue occurs when you alter the seams.

Let’s take a detailed look the basic methods of attaching the latch on diverse leather clothes.

Installing a Zipper to the Natural Skin Clothes

To sew a latch on natural skin jacket, it is strictly imperative to use a high-quality professional sewing sets, as the household one may not be able to impale the coating, and if it does, there is a possibility of damage to the product. Many household machines have plastic parts, and with a large load, they can fail. When sewing leather clothing used industrial sewing machines for leather, which are specifically designed for it, experiencing during sewing increased loads due to the durability of the tissue.

It is for this reason, you need to carry the coat to the atelier because even with proper training and skills, not all people have the necessary professional equipment for precise working with clothing.

When sewing the lock, you should adhere to the following rules and sequence of actions:

• Levin for a coat should be strong, large, and with a massive runner — in this case, it will serve you much more than one year. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the zipper should be metal — firstly, high-quality metal levins have a very long lifespan, and secondly, metal elements with natural skin clothes look very beautiful and stylish.
• Most studios have a lock to choose from, but sometimes you need to purchase a levin by yourself. Usually, this is not a problem — in almost every city there are shops with a large selection of zippers for coats and other leather attire. In the shops of the studio, you can choose a latch according to your taste color and length. Other materials are available in each clothing repair shop.
• If you nevertheless decided to change the broken latch on a natural skin coat on your own, then you will need, in fact, the professional sewing machine itself, a thick needle, special strong threads for leather, and the zipper. Further, the process of repairing the lock on a leather attire occurs in the following order.

How to Repair a Zipper on a Leather Jacket?

• At first, the old tissue is needed to be removed. In principle, this is a fairly simple operation — it is easy to handle even for a non-professional. The key point is to precisely separate parts of old threads. Oftenly, they are in leather glue, so it is quite problematic to remove it without a trace.
• To fix the latch on leather clothes, special glue is used — it also needs to be removed out from the clothes surface. When the particles of glue and old tissue are removed, you can begin to insert the lock into the jacket.
• During the lock replacement on a leather coat is not used wits thread. To begin with, instead of threads, a special adhesive for the skin is smoothly applied to the stretch of the new latch with a special brush and the zipper is glued to the sides of the coat.
• Adjusting the edges of the tissue with your fingers, carefully press the new tape with the tissue to the fabric and hold it for a few minutes to ensure that the latch is properly and firmly glued to the surface. After the tape is glued to your coat, repeat the same process, pressing the other side of the jacket.
• Also, instead of the usual glue for natural skin clothing, you can use special adhesive tape, which is laid on both coat material sides.
• It is essential to pay attention to the accuracy of applying the fabric tissue of the new latch and the elements of the jacket — seams, pockets, etc. Natural leather fabric tends to stretch over time, so you need to monitor the accuracy of the sizing lines so that after the glue has dried, you suddenly do not see that you have stuck the levin unevenly.
• If you did everything correctly and all the seam lines are the same, then you can start sewing the lock into the jacket.
• For starters, check the current state of the new latch. Sometimes it happens that for a complete repair of the latch, all that you need is a latch replacement. Metal locks often require a complete replacement of both the lock tissue and the levin, since massive metal runners very often have a non-standard shape.
• Sew on the tape of the new lock very precisely, trying to get through the old holes from the needles on the surface as accurately as possible.
• Most often, the zipper on the natural skin jacket is inserted in one seam, so be sure to check whether the needle is catching the lower edge of the tissue.
• If you have little experience in working with leather materials, try to use the old holes from the last seam still, as even a professional sewing machine could not take four layers of natural skin at the same time.
• During the work, it is critical to use a durable synthetic thread since clothes often get wet, so seams made with natural threads (for example, from flax) can deteriorate over time.
• After stitching a new levin into the jacket, check the quality of the seams and several times run the zipper on the lock, determining that everything is working in a right way.

Correct and diligent replacement of the lock on a natural skin coat can significantly extend the lifetime. Without fail, contact a professional clothing repair shop; otherwise, poor-quality homework can cost you your favorite jacket. High-quality and reliable repair of clothes will provide you with guaranteed results and the pleasure of wearing fashionable clothes made of natural skin.

References:

https://www.goldbarkleather.com/sourceblog/installing-zipper-tape
https://www.reddit.com/r/Leathercraft/comments/8bj7i4/attaching_a_zipper_to_leatherwork/
https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/55115-how-to-install-zipper/