Fix a broken zipper - the lazy way!

I have no clue how to remove and replace or even repair a broken zipper.  My friend, Sarah, had a pair of jeans that belonged to her youngest boy with a broken zipper.

She asked me if I could replace it, and I quickly told her absolutely.....NOT. LOL  I had no clue.  She insisted it didn't have to be pretty, she simply liked the fit of the jeans and wanted to get a few more months of wear. That meant she didn't want to invest any money in taking it to a professional.  So we put our heads together with a male member of our Bible study group and came up with a solution.

We would add buttons in lieu of a zipper.  Genius, right?  I tried to match the size and color of the original button.

The first thing I had to do was remove the zipper teeth, because I didn't want my needle to hit them when I made my buttons holes.  So I simply cut it out with my applique scissors.  I cut as close as I could to the fabric and as far down into the fly as possible.

This is what it looked like after it was totally removed.

Then I marked my button hole placement.  This was just a rough guide.  I straightened it when I got it to the machine.

I found this jeans thread at Joann's and thought it would be perfect.  Sorry for the blurred pic.

After the button holes were stitched, I hand sewed on the buttons.  And voila!  Button up jeans!  I could have bought an extra pack of buttons and replaced the top button to match, but I chose not to.  They will only be worn another 2/3 months tops, and they'll be covered with a shirt.  No one will ever see the difference.  They don't line up exactly on the vertical, because my machine will not stitch through that extra thickness on the edge of that fly.  But again, it's negligible and no one will ever notice.

I hope this helps someone else who doesn't know how to replace a broken zipper. LOL

Thanks for stopping by.
Happy Wednesday!!
Angela