Sewing, Bro Style

   Last fall I bought a set of cold weather bibs and a jacket for riding to the work on the chilly winter days. Unfortunately, the zipper on the heels of the tights kept splitting open. Enter my awesome zipper sewing skills! 

   Like any domestic project, this one was better with some beer. While walking the dog, I stopped in the LQ and found that Shift Pale Lager is now available in a 12 pack:

Tasty.

   Onto the sewing - I picked up some 7" zippers from Joanne's and some needles and black thread.  Here's some zipper vocabulary for you:

Learn it... love it.

   When sewing something like this that needs to be strong and looks aren't much of an issue, I use this threading method. This results in 4 pieces of thread in each stitch, very strong. 

Doubled over threading

   Here's the busted seam and new zipper:

The goods

   I decided not to remove the old zipper. I yanked the old slider off and just sewed the new zipper tape right over the tape. This way there was less chance of the new threads tearing out the lycra of the tights. Here is one side half done:

Here is the complete zipper closed. You can barely see the old zipper on the edges of the new one. Maybe I'll start a trend of multiple zippers.

   ...and here is it open:

Smooth like butter

   I used them this morning and they worked great! The sewing pattern I used was admittedly sloppy and I decided to go over it twice to make sure it was well reinforced. Oh, and Shift tastes just as good out of a 12oz can as a 16oz can. 

Winner!