Fixing Tent Zipper with Velcro

 This weekend we went camping to Bryce Canyon. Last camping trip our tents zipper broke, so I had to figure something out. The tent is only a year and a half old and we have really liked it. We got it at Kmart for about 150$ and it has been really good for our family. There is lots of room, it is really easy to set up, and makes it through the weather without leaking. We have even had it in a foot of snow and it was good. So being cheap like I am, when the zipper broke I was determined to fix it and not have to buy another tent. Every tent we buy the zipper is the only thing that goes wrong, people have told us that maybe we are too hard on the zippers, but I think that the kind of tents we buy aren't really meant for the amount of camping we do.

So I bought 6 feet of fabric Velcro from walmart for about $6.00, put my sewing machine in my garage, and started pinning on the Velcro.

 I cut the velcro into about 4-6 inch strips and pinned it to both sides of the door. The reason I didn't do the whole 6 feet in one long strip is because I thought that if one part of the velcro started to open, the weight would pull open the whole door. Once they were all pinned I started sewing. I sewed each piece around all the edges with a straight stitch, I did a couple with a zig-zag stitches but it made the velcro not quite as effective. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but it saved me $150!



The Velcro before it was sewing on.



 I was a little worried that it wouldn't hold up to my families in-and-out for 4 days, but it did AWESOME! I like it better than the zipper. It is easier for everyone to open and close, and we had no issues of the side of the tent getting stuck in the zipper. It wasn't that windy at Bryce, but I think it will hold up to most weather. We had a small sprinkle and there wasn't even a drip of water in. It worked just as good as the zipper, I think. I have a few other tents that I think I will have to change over to velcro.


The finished door. Even the campground at Bryce is pretty.





See how well it closes.



Funny little side note. I was in the garage sewing (which was weird enough) and I had the door into the backyard open to cool down a little. Soon enough, my little flock of chicks had made it in to hang with me! I sat for an hour with my 5 chicks sitting around me, they were sitting on the floor and would look up at me occasionally making their cute little cooing nosies. It was the weirdest sewing experience I have ever had.