Today's dull question - zip won't grip teeth on coat, what can I do?

[jodee]

The plastic zip on ds's winter coat will go up and down but it's not gripping the teeth, leaving a gaping hole, great on a freezing day!

Drycleaner want £15 to fix it, which is more than the coat cost and will take them a week! Thanks but no thanks. Anything I can do??? (Oh if only I had a sewing machine!)

[Snugs]

Do you mean it has sort of slipped, so one side of zip seems longer than the other and a hole bulges between the teeth?

[Marina]

New zip inset by hand...sounds as though the current zip has had it Jodee. What super timing...
I'm a bit of an electric machine refusenik and would be scared to tackle a job like this that way.

[jodee]

Snugs, it grips at the bottom, where you connect the two halves together, the zip travels up both sides OK to the top, but just opens up underneath so when it gets to the top, nothing is zipped (need a picture, so difficult to describe in words!)
Marina, I know what you mean, if I had a sewing machine I would probably put it in up side down anyway!

[piffle]

lead pencil over the teeth my dd's great granny has just said and she is/was a dressmaker
Hope it helps!!!

[jodee]

Cheers piffle, had a go doing that, and also noticed the zipper bit was wider than it should have been, think that was why it wasn't gripping, bashed it and now seems to be fine (saving myself £15, phew).