Help! My Luggage Zipper Is Broken!

Here's a quickie. I did it this afternoon.

I bought this Delsey 25" suitcase on ebay for under $20. It was originally $300! The buyer had returned it because the zipper pull broke off. It is super lightweight and packed with features (like an indicator to tell you if it's overweight), so I decided to buy it and then figure out the zipper problem later.

You can see here that there is no zipper pull on this front pocket. Everything else and all the other zippers were fine. There was no way I could fix this zipper by adding a new one because...it would have looked terrible if I could have even found a new zipper to put on it due to the fact that I'd have to hand sew it. Plus, there's no telling how much a luggage zipper would cost by itself. Probably as much as I paid for the luggage!

Something else had to be done.

I got out some trusty brown packing paper and started drafting a pattern to make a flap to cover the zipper.

Then, I used my pattern and traced onto some black leather.

I cut it out.

Then, I glued it in place. This was not the permanent fix because glue would have easily ripped off over time. The glue was just to hold the leather in place because you can't pin leather in place. (It makes holes when you do that.)

Enter the needle and thread. (Those are rubber finger tips for pulling needles through tough fabrics like leather. I couldn't find my thimble.)

I stitched the leather in place.

From the inside.

That took a little time, but when I was done, it looked pretty good!

Here is the flap up so I can get into the pocket.

At some point, I may put a button or magnetic closure on it, but for now, at least it doesn't look as bad! (I will be putting a luggage protector over it when I check it at airports, just in case you were wondering.)

Très luxe, no?

The End!