Saturday, April 3, 2010

Recycling Zippers


As much as possible, if I'm not going to try to resell clothes that no longer fit, I try to reuse them in other ways. Everything from buttons to zippers are scavenged for later use. You'd be surprised how much those extra notions come in handy when you're working on a last-minute craft project!
A little cardigan of Breanna's had a stain on it which refused to budge despite my best efforts, so before tossing it I decided to take off the zipper which was perfectly reusable.

Use a nice sharp razor blades, lock the children in the closet until you're done, and carefully cut through the stitches that hold the zipper in place.
As soon as you've gotten a little bit of the zipper worked loose it's easy to separate it from the fabric by giving it a gentle tug and then a swipe with the razor blade at the revealed stitching.
Swipe away until your zipper is free!

(Hmmm, that doesn't sound quite right, does it.)

2 comments:

Mizzle said...

I can't bear to throw anything usable away either - except I never actually use it...

I've never used a razor blade, though - I think I'd use my seam ripper.

It could save you the trouble of locking the kids in the closet - but then again, perhaps the peace and quiet is just a bonus? :)

Explore-Science-Beyond-the-Classroom said...

Oh no!... Now I'll have to check all my zippers before you leave to make sure they are all still there. I'm missing some support underwear from your last visit and Auntie Erna said you were lodging her size 8 pants!! Ha ha!!!