The zipper that blew out on a dress 10 minutes before a show in Milwaukee

I was backstage at a small gallery show a few years ago, helping a friend model a dress she'd spent three months sewing. Right before she went out, the side zipper just gave up. Metal teeth split apart like they were made of cheap plastic. She had pins and safety pins in her kit, so I held the fabric together while she worked from the inside. Took us maybe 4 minutes to get it functional, but it looked like a patch job from 10 feet away. She walked anyway, kept her arm down on that side, and nobody in the crowd seemed to notice. The dress went back on the sewing table that night and got a new zipper and a hidden button flap. Has anyone else had a fast fix hold up better than you expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

john_johnson7525d ago

That duct tape thing makes me a little nervous honestly. In my experience permanent fixes come from doing it right the first time. A bodge job might hold for a while but it usually comes back to bite you when you least expect it.

fionaa3525d ago

Oh, I've had one of those that worked a little too well. I once patched a hole in my favorite pair of jeans with a piece of duct tape right before a dinner party. Two years later, that tape is still holding, and I've washed those jeans dozens of times. The worst part is, I'm too stubborn to undo it now, so I just tell people it's a design feature. Nothing like a solid bodge job to make you question your life choices.