I wonder if you could do repairs by hand stitching. Presumably the special machine does a special stitch which is lined up exactly with the teeth. A regular mac

I wonder if you could do repairs by hand stitching. Presumably the special machine does a special stitch which is lined up exactly with the teeth. A regular machine can't do that, but I bet a skilled human could. You'd need a way to hold the zipper teeth and the fabric in place while you stitch. Maybe temporary tape or some special-purpose jig thing.