Saint Salvage

Here's how to replace a broken zipper for your favorite warm and cozy parka.  This is my husband's jacket's, and he really likes it, But, he broke the zipper. See the missing teeth? I went to my local JoAnn Fabrics, and I bought a Coats & Clark Parka Zipper that it is 32" long. It has heavy duty plastic teeth, and cost about $3.50. I also used a seam ripper and black heavy duty thread and a heavy duty hand sewing needle. Take that seam ripper and carefully slide it up along the zipper. This will leave each front seam side open to attach the zipper.  Pin the zipper in between the layers to ensure that everything lines up. Give the zipper a test zip to make sure it's straight with no puckering along the seam. Hand sew twice on each side of the zipper, to ensure the seams are just as strong as the zipper. After you sew each zipper side into the jacket, remove all the straight pins. Clip the seams to ensure no loose strings will...

This is another cashmere sweater I love.  Of course, when I wanted to wear it... Holes!!!!! I hate sweater holes!!!! Instead of throwing out the sweater, I bought some iron on butterfly patches. I just placed them over the holes... and ironed them on. Here's the front, with the holes covered. Here's the back. The moth holes are now covered with butterfly patches. My nice cozy sweater is done.

Ah, cooler weather... time to change up the wardrobe. Well, I discovered something when unpacking my sweaters. One of my favorites is a "cheapie" I bought a couple years ago at the Atlantic City NJ Old Navy Outlet. It is 100% cashmere, and I bought it on sale for under $10.  To my great disappointment, it came out with holes! Arrrgggh!  What to do???? I set it aside, and found more sweaters that had small holes. So... inspiration time! I went onto my  Sweater Surgery board on Pinterest  and my  Sweet Home Alabama Chanin  board on Pinterest. Brain blast!!!!! Reverse applique coming up!!! I prowled the internet, and found this  pattern  for a Classic Play Wand by Katie Lewis, of   The Red Kitchen . She made a guest post on  U Create With Kids . I thought that star pattern would be a perfect template for my sweater hole problem. I printed out that pattern and gathered my supplies. I cut out the s...

I was at my local Goodwill store, and I came upon this purse. It's a 1970 vintage John Romain straw and leather "doctor bag" style. It's in great condition, with the straw/ raffia intact, and the whiskey brown leather straps and trim with a little bit of wear. The brass metal studs, feet and clip look great.    The wooden rods through the leather at the top of the bag ensure the shape.    Check out the bottom. It has five brass stud feet.       Here's the back. Again.... typical wear for its age. I'll end up polishing the leather.       The only bummer about it is that the flap and twist lock was missing. Note the Romain lion logo on the front flap.    The interior John Romain logo and the date of "DEC 1970" is clearly seen.     But, the price was right at $3.99. I had to get creative to make this truly functional. So... I scoured the rest of t...