Broken Zipper, Oh No!

May 6th, 2010 | Posted by Michelle in Sewing | Tips | Wearables - (Comments Off on Broken Zipper, Oh No!)

This was not the thing I wanted to have happen one cold and wet morning. The loud clang bang I kept hearing from the dryer was making me rather nervous. Usually when I put the coat in the dryer it would make a bang and clang because of the zipper but this time it just sounded different.

Different in a bad way.

Broken Zipper Pull

I was really not happy to find my zipper pull detached from my coat, especially since I didn’t have another warm AND water-proof one.

Keep in mind this coat was a couple years old, pissed me off, and was only around $10. It pissed me off because the zipper would get caught in the little flaps it had to cover the zipper. It had a invisible zipper thing going on, and had more flaps on the inside to keep the zipper off the skin. But those flaps just kept getting stuck!

I had to fix it.

Why fix something you hate though? Well there is that thing called money that you need to buy a new one… Yeah a little short on that front. Plus this was the first coat I found when we first moved here to the Pacific North West that would fit and keep me warm from the snow.

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Cleaning House…Err…Iron

October 27th, 2009 | Posted by Michelle in Tips - (Comments Off on Cleaning House…Err…Iron)

There really is something I LOVE about working with fabric. I love love love the smell of a hot steaming iron being run over fresh cotton. It is such a warm and comforting feeling that I just can’t describe.

Dirty Iron

The one thing I do hate about my iron is when I use it over something dark, like black, and it leaves those damn calcium deposits all over my clean fabric. It was doing this recently and I just got all disgusted and annoyed with my iron. My poor little $9 iron doesn’t need my ire, it just needs to iron!

So I decided to clean it, let it sweat it out.

Sweaty Iron

Literally.

Since the iron shoots out the little specs when its steaming, I took my trusty little iron that has seen better days to the kitchen and decided to steam it to death. Well not literally death, but…you know.

Cleaning Iron

I filled it with as much water as it’s safe to hold, and put it laying down over the edges of a pan. A cake pan worked well and kept the iron lifted so it could steam to its hearts content.

Yes, my iron does have a heart. Its just crusty.

I let it go for quite a while, and kept refilling it and using the steam booster button thing on top to help shoot out more of the stuff.

Dirty Pan

I cleaned quite a bit out of my little iron, but I’m sure I’ll end up finding more on dark fabrics though its better than it was. I’m sure that using vinegar will clean out more, kinda like how you clean out a coffee maker after a while, but for now I’m content.