How To: Repair a Coat Zipper

This Winter, we bought all of our boys new coats.

We’ve been battling Deege’s zipper since almost the beginning.  It started breaking after he’d worn it a few times and exchanging the coat wasn’t an option.

We kept that zipper working until it’s last dying breath.  I decided to replace it.  It’s so easy, I thought I’d do a tutorial on it.  Besides, replacing a zipper is much, much cheaper than replacing a coat.

Ready?  Measure the zipper that needs to be replaced.

Buy a coat zipper in a matching color and length.

I bought mine online.  My nearest craft/sewing store is an hour and a half away.  Boo! 

Cut the broken zipper off as close to the teeth as you can.  You could just unpick the zipper, but this was faster.

Serge the raw edge to prevent fraying.

Measure where you want your zipper and get ready to pin everything into place.

Wait.  Open your zipper before you pin.  It’s best to have it out of the package.

Now, line it up where you want it and pin it into place.

Wait.

Again.

What’s up with this blasted zipper?

Aaaarrrrghhh!!!

It isn’t a coat zipper!  Stinking website!  It should have had pictures!  Dang!  That was my only zipper.  I don’t have Ash’s problem of hoarding zippers.  If I did, this would be a non-issue. 

Maybe I could borrow one from her!  Only…she lives 3 1/2 hours away…

Well, great!  Now what?!  It’s 10:30 p.m., the stores are closed, and the coatless child needs a coat for school in the morning.  I mean, this past week it’s been a nice, balmy TWENTY DEGREES BELOW ZERO, so a jacket isn’t going to cut it.

Think…

…think…

…think…

Well, the nearest Wal-Mart is 30 miles away, and they might have a zipper.  But what about school in the morning?

…think…

…think…

…think…

SNAP!!

I’ve got it!  I’ll just sew the coat shut, but only 3/4 of the way.  We’ll turn that coat into a pullover…just for a day…then I’ll get that zipper fixed in no time!

So, that’s exactly what I did.  Deege thought his “pullover” was awesome, and off to school he went.  (I had to resort to bribery to get him to wear a scarf to cover the opening)

Once all the boys were safely on the bus, Monkey and I bundled up and made the 35 mile drive to Wal-Mart.

Dang.  No zippers.

Now what?! 

The kid needs a coat.

I could pick a zipper off of another coat…

…maybe stop at the thrift store, pick up a jacket and use THAT zipper?!

I just don’t know.

Dang.

Kindergarten gets out in 45 minutes.  Thirty five of those minutes are just driving time…

…and it’s snowing, so that’ll slow me down…

So I did what mother in a hurry would do…

I just bought him a new coat!  :)

Good thing, too, because he and a chain link fence got into some sort of battle at recess, and his coat sleeve was ripped beyond repair.

Goodness.  Boys!

Well, my friends, THAT is how you replace a coat zipper!!

;)

Oops.

I love sewing. Unfortunately, being a “Textile Artist” can be dangerous.

Yep. I totally sewed through my finger. It hurt. Bad. I yanked my finger back and busted my sewing needle. I held pressure on the wound until I got a band aid. As I removed the pressure, I noticed it wasn’t bleeding. Why? Because I made a complete stitch in my finger!! It didn’t bleed until I pulled the the thread out. Nasty.

I just learned a valuable first aid skill. In an emergency, the sewing machine will apply adequate stitches.

Just sayin’.

Another Use for Bent-Tip Serging Tweezers

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Do you have any bent tip serging tweezers? 

They come in handy with the sewing machine, too.

Well, I've recently come up with another use for these bad boys.

Monkey got one of these Legos stuck up his nose.

Why?  Because he’s two.

The removal of this Lego was a team effort.  I held Monkey down (while we both cried…) The Hubsters performed the procedure, and the tweezers did an excellent job with the extraction.

We avoided a trip to the ER, and Monkey’s nose is now Lego free.

Thank Heaven.

I hope you never need this tutorial, but at least it makes a funny story--now that it’s over!  :)

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Monkey’s Lego was orange. 

:)

Pajama Pants FAIL!!!

Remember all the wardrobe issues we are having with Monkey?  It carries over into the pajama part of the wardrobe, too.

I found a shirt off the clearance rack for only $1.00, and decided to make Monkey a pair of comfy, knit, pajama pants.

Only…

I loaned my pattern to a friend and still don’t have it back.

No worries.  I’ve made oodles of pajama pants, so I’ll just use my memory!

Oh.  Bad idea.  This is what Monkey’s pants ended up looking like:

How about that diaper wedgie?!  Nice, eh!  Oh goodness.  These pictures make me laugh so hard!  Look at Monkey’s gut:

Ha ha ha!  They turned out WAY too small!

Awwww…but he’s still so, so cute!  :)

Did you know that Monkey just turned two?

Yep.  He did, and it still makes me sad.  He’s my baby!  He’s supposed to stay that way!

A big part of my sadness is knowing that I can’t have anymore babies, even though I’ve got five kids.  Maybe I’d feel differently if the decision to not have anymore babies had been mine and my hubby’s.  Thanks to all of my “girl problems” The Hubsters and I had a really hard time getting all of our babies here.  After Monkey was born, I had to have a hysterectomy.  I’d fought it for four years, and my body had had it.  It was time.  It’s a very long story, so I’ll stop here.  But if you are one who struggles with infertility and recurrent miscarriage, my heart goes out to you.  I’ve been there, and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through.

…and since I’m feeling all melancholy, I’ll share just one more thing.

Song for a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing and butter the bread,

Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

 

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew

And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo

But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren’t (his) eyes the most wonderful hue?

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

 

‘Aint that the truth! 

Resize a Tee Shirt

Firecracker got a nice, new shirt for Summer.  Unfortunately, he cut a hole in it with scissors the first time he wore it.  It was an accident, and he’s only five.  No worries.

When I saw the hole, I immediately thought of Monkey.  That poor baby has four big brothers and LOTS of hand-me-downs.  But, the clothes he is fitting into right now are either too big or Winter clothes.  They’re all in really good shape and I want to use them.  So, I will be refashioning Monkey’s Winter Wardrobe into a Summer one.  More on that Tuesday.

I decided to refashion Firecracker’s new shirt with a scissor hole into a shirt for Monkey.

It was easy.  I started by chopping up an old shirt of Monkey’s to use as a pattern.  I cut along all of the seams.  Then I cut Firecracker’s shirt along the seams.

I took Monkey’s shirt, laid it over the body of the shirt and cut the bigger shirt about an inch bigger all around for seam allowances, and because the brown shirt is too small for Monkey.

I took the new front piece of the shirt and with the right sides together, I cut out the back piece.

I did it this way so that both pieces would be exactly the same size, and so that I could match up the pattern of the shirt.

See?!

Next, I cut out the sleeves using Monkey’s old sleeves.  Again, I cut about an inch bigger than the old sleeve.  Cut them both at the same time.

Take the front and back pieces and lay them flat with the right sides together.  Sew them together at the shoulder seams.

Serge the raw edge, or leave it.  Knit won’t fray.  Don’t you dare judge my crooked seams.  This was my first sewing project after my surgery.  This little project was pretty painful. 

Just be happy I’m not showing you what’s UNDER the band-aid!!  Oh, you want to see it?  Okay, but if things like this make you squeamish, look away.

Ewww…

Don’t worry.  They look lots better now.

So, back to the crooked seams and the resized shirt…

Shoulder seams are sewn and serged, and now it is time to hem the sleeves.  I don’t normally do this at this point, but these sleeves are so small that they won’t fit around my sewing machine.  So, hem the sleeves.  I didn’t get a picture, and my next post will include the tutorial, but until then, refer to this post.

Attach your freshly hemmed sleeves to the body of the shirt.

The shirt is still inside out.  With the wrong sides of the sleeves facing up, pin them to the sleeve curve of the body of the shirt and stitch into place.

Serge the raw edge or leave it raw.  I care not.

Now, take the hem of the sleeve, fold it in half, and make sure all the seams line up.  Make one long seam from the sleeve hem to the bottom of the shirt.  Do this to both sides and serge the raw edges. 

Now the shirt is actually shirt shaped!  Now you need to hem it.  You can refer to this post again if you need to.

This is the under side of the hem.  Turn the shirt right side out and steam press the seams flat.

Ta-Da!  Now you have a new, smaller shirt!  Yes, the tag says it’s size 5/6 in little boys, but we all know it’s REALLY a 2T!  Sweet!

My little man looked really cute in his newly resized Summer shirt.

It’s just too bad he wouldn’t hold still long enough for a decent picture.

Oh well…you get the idea!

Come back on Tuesday and I’ll show you how I refashioned Monkey’s Winter Wardrobe for Summer.  See you then!

Off to mow the lawn…so fun!  ;)

Fabulous New Recipe!

Hi there!  I am still healing from my surgery.  Thank heavens for scheduled posts, right?!  Anyway, I am going to recycle this post from the family blog.  I hope you’re okay with that.  If not, then we can’t be friends!  ;)  Joking! 

Welp!  Enjoy!

I have recently come up with a new recipe.  It’s a kind of hybrid lemon-poppy-seed-orange-zested-zucchini bread.  Making it was quite the experience.  A simple recipe wouldn’t suffice, so I will provide you with the full tutorial.

You will need the basic ingredients and supplies for zucchini bread, but in order to get the same results as I did, you’ll also need:

~four boys suffering from the worst case of Summer-Time-Boredom that has been seen this century

~one screaming baby who refuses to take a nap

~eleven phone calls

~six loads of laundry you’re trying to catch up on

~one Kirby salesman

~one neighbor stop by

~not enough clean dishes because those bored-silly boys still haven’t done the dishes yet.  Be sure to nag them during the baking process.  It will help with your results.

~and 40 cups of pureed zucchini—because the zucchini was the ONLY thing that survived the flood.  Go figure. 

P.S.  We had a flood in our yard last year.  Heavy rainstorms mad some of the canals in the canyon above our house break.  It wasn’t pretty.

…back to the tutorial…

Since you have so much zucchini, you’ll want to triple the recipe and freeze a couple of loaves for breakfast on busy school mornings. 

Great. 

Now go find your recipe for Orange Zested Zucchini Bread.  Note that the recipe for Lemon Poppy Seed Bread is on the other page. 

Be sure you have half a dozen different lenders (we’re refinancing the house and shaving a ton of years off of our mortgage) AND an online college program call (twice) while you’re assembling your ingredients. 

It is key to accidentally add a few ingredients from the Lemon Poppy Seed recipe at this point.  You also MUST confuse the baking soda with baking powder.

Tripling the recipe? Just be sure that if you do this, you choose a bowl that is up to the challenge.

Now is the point where you remember that you have tons of cute aprons, and that while they are cute; they also keep your clothes clean.  Go change your shirt before you put on your apron.

On your way back to the kitchen, break up a fight between two of your boys, tell someone else to quit playing with the soap and water in the bathroom, and answer the door.  It is a neighbor.  This visit will take a few minutes, but at least your shirt is clean.  When you’re finished, head back to the kitchen and start mixing your ingredients again. 

Forgot the apron?  Figures.  Go change your shirt again, only this time take your apron into your bedroom with you.  It will be easier to remember it if you have it with you.

Go back to your recipe.  As soon as you finish mixing your ingredients, realize you don’t have enough clean bread pans to bake your tripled recipe.  This is the point where you realize that this is hopeless and you might be better off if you just forget the whole thing. 

BUT you are NOT a quitter! 

You will see this thing through to the end, dang it!  Pour the rest of the batter into muffin tins.  Bake your bread and muffins, and hope all goes well.

While everything is baking, clean up your kitchen, hunt down the boys who are hiding from the dishes, make them do the dishes, and get your house in some sort of order. 

If you were smart, you’d have four of the boys watch a movie while the ornery baby naps.  I mean, good grief, it took a long time for him to give up that fight and go to sleep!  BUT you are NOT smart.  The baby wakes up ten minutes later and is crankier than before.

Answer a few more phone calls.  Start another load of laundry.  Be sure to include the two shirts you slopped with your zucchini batter.

Take the muffins out of the oven.

Huh.  They look more like cookies than muffins, and they don’t smell right, either.  Oh well.  Let them cool and taste test them in a few minutes.  Take a picture of your mutated muffin-cookie and realize it is on Lindsay’s plate.  Note to self—return Lindsay’s plate and ask her how long you had it in the first place.

Fold a load of laundry.  Bribe the boys with a movie if they help you get it out and sort it into everyone’s baskets. 

Soon, the minute timer will ring and as your head into the kitchen, you’ll have to answer the door again. 

This time it is the Kirby guy.  He’s pushy.  He doesn’t care that your timer is going off.  Try your hardest to send him packing, and when that still doesn’t work, cut him off mid-sentence and say, “Do you smell that?”  You’ll notice a burning smell and the smoke alarm will accompany the smell.  Slam the door in Kirby Guy’s face and get to the oven before the house burns down. 

Open the oven, grab your bread, open the doors and the windows, wait patiently for the batter fire to burn itself out, and send a mental apology to Kirby Guy.

At this point, a few neighbor kids will stop and ask if you need help because they know how to dial 911.  (Bless them) Assure them that everything is fine, even though smoke is billowing out your house. 

You’ll now have four loaves that look like this:

Such a waste.  Taste the mutated muffin-cookie and realize you forgot the sugar.  You’ll now have twenty four muffins and four loaves of bread that are burned AND disgusting! 

Your hubsters may come home for lunch and sneak what he thinks is a cookie.  Not only have you forgotten to make him lunch, but you just poisoned him with a sugar-free-mutated-muffin-cookie.  No worries, he still loves you, and makes himself a peanut butter sandwich.

Dump your disaster into the trash and applaud yourself for finishing and NOT bursting into tears.  Your shirt is clean, AND you remembered your apron!  Way to go!!

Sewing 101: Bra Clasp Repair

Good morning, everyone!

Isn’t it funny how I seem to be perfectly fine and crafting away, when in reality, I AM IN SURGERY?!

Yessiree.  Today is the day I get my wrists sliced into.  How exciting.  Feel free to send chocolate.  I am sure that will aid in my recovery!  ;)

So, while I am high on pain pills and anesthesia, you can learn how to fix your…ahem…bra.

Because, let’s face it.  Sometimes they need mending, too.

Have you ever pulled your bra out of the washer and it looks like this?

No?  Oh, well…um…me neither.  Uh, this is um…my friend’s bra.  Yeah.  It’s Ash’s.  Not mine…

Anyway, why throw away a perfectly good bra?  It’s so easy to fix.

Start by cutting off the bent hooks and the other side.  You want these new hooks to match up.

Grab a package of these:

Pin them into place.

Sew it down and tuck the edges.

Repeat with the other side, and you’re done!

Your bra is back and fully operational; and you spent less than a dollar!  Woot!

Gee, I sure hope Ash appreciates her newly fixed bra!  ;)