Sometimes it’s impossible to find a zipper with the right length for your latex project and you will have to shorten it to adjust the length.

1. Make a bottom stop

You want to keep the zippers top stoppers and only shorten it by making a new bottom stop.

First measure the length you need for the zipper in your garment and mark it onto the zipper. Before you cut anything off, you must sew in a new bottom stop for the slider.

Take a sewing needle and a normal sewing thread and sew a few tight loops around the zip where you have your mark.

2. Remove zipper teeth

There are different types of zipper teeth. Some can need to be pulled out (carefully) before you can cut them off and some you can cut out right away. It doesn’t matter how you do it, just make sure that the teeth come out without ruining the material around it.

3. Reinforce the end of the zipper

Start by applying glue to the backside of the end of the zipper and a piece of cloth. Allow both to dry completely.

Glue the piece of cloth on to the backside of the zipper. Apply pressure to make a strong bond using your seam roller.

Note: If the zipper need to be really strong, glue a piece of cloth on the front side too.

Finish off the zipper by cutting a nice rounded edge on the ending with a pair of scissors.

Done!

Knowing how to glue a zipper into a latex garment is a must for a latex crafter. I already received a lot of emails from my readers on this subject. So here you are – a guide to gluing zippers into latex clothing. Don’t worry, it’s easy!

You need:

• Your latex garment.
• A plastic or metal zipper with cotton backing.
• A strip of latex sheeting for reinforcement.
• A piece of cotton cloth.
• Natural latex milk (glue).
• and of course something to apply it with.

Regarding zippers
There are different types of zippers, the one you need is a zipper which has a cotton backing. There are also types made from plastic, but those are no good for gluing. You will recognize the difference right away, if you hold them in your hand. Some zippers have a little plastic cover on the ending. Don’t cut them off, you need to peel them off carefully.

Metal teeth or plastic teeth
If the zipper should have plastic teeth or metal teeth is a matter of taste and use. Metal zippers are stronger, but the metal will dis-color latex if they comes in contact with each other. Metal zippers are harder to closing properly. Personally, I rarely use metal zippers and if I do, it’s only in combination with thick black latex so you wont see any coloration.

1. Prepare your latex garment

Lets imagine that you are making f.x. a skirt and you would like to have a zipper in the back or on side. Mark the spot where the zipper should be and of course how long it will be. Cut out a 5 mm wide stripe in the required length for the zipper teeth to fit in.

2. Prepare the zipper

In order to create a nice zipper ending, apply the latex milk on the ending tails of the zipper and the piece of cloth. Let the glue dry completely, even if the glue turned transparent it might be that the zipper ending or piece of cloth are still wet. Please allow it to dry completely! Now press the ending tails of the zipper slightly together, so that they just stick a bit to each other and then put the piece of cloth up on top of it. Apply pressure with the seam roller to get a strong bond between the pieces. Now you can cut a really nice edge around the ending of the zipper, like you can see in the picture.

Tip: It makes things faster if you apply the glue right away all the way on the zipper on both sides,front and back of the zipper. But watch out when you apply the glue that you wont get to close to the zipper teeth, the slider will have otherwise problems. So apply the glue just to the edge of the slider.

3. Apply the glue

Now after you have cleaned the latex, you apply a thin layer of glue to the area. Don’t worry if the width of the area where you applied the glue is wider than the zipper itself, that is fine because you will later on glue a reinforcement on there. Just watch out out that your working space is clean.

Tip: If you have to glue in a long zipper or are insecure, because you have not done this before, then you can take some regular PE-household folie and put that on the parts you want to protect from sticking together etc. like you can see here in the picture. The orange dots in this image show which parts go first together, in this case you glue the bottom parts first together.

4. Glue zipper in

What I do is, that I glue the latex on the zipper. That means that I have the latex in my hand with the shiny side up, so that I can see if I position everything right and if I glue it straight on.
1. I start out like I said with the bottom, I lie the latex slightly down on the ending of the zipper and apply slightly pressure with my finger, so that I fixate the bottom parts together.
2. I take one side of the latex back.
3. I pull of the household folie.
4. I sligtly lie down the latex on the zipper and then apply slightly pressure to it with my finger, before I carefully use the seam roller. The same goes for the other side! Done! That’s how it should look like now.

5. Reinforce the zipper

It is important that you do that. It gives it the necessary strength, looks better and it is nicer to wear that way. Here I cut out a “U”-shape to cover the zipper at once. You can of course also just use two single strips of latex and a little square and glue that around the zipper. I do that if I have to reinforce long zippers like for jackets, dresses etc. The width of the latex strip should be so wide that it goes a few “mm” over the edge of the zipper so that it touches the latex. Now apply the glue, allow it to dry completely and carefully glue the strip on. Before I use the seam roller, I always apply at first slightly pressure with my finger to the pieces, to avoid air bubbles. You have to watch out that you do not glue the strip to close to the zipper teeth. The edge of the zipper slider is the closes you can go, other wise the zipper wont work. Now just cut of that what stands over on the top of your garment.

Done!

This is how your finished zipper should look like!

Tip: In case you would like to keep the zipper teeth away from your skin, cut out two latex strips where one is so wide that it could cover the entire zipper and glue those in. Start by gluing in the smaller piece first! And watch out here again for the zipper teeth! Check out the photos.