Zipper Fun

I just finished replacing zippers in two pair of shorts and a jacket. Whew, that is always a chore. When I remove the old zippers I never want to throw them out because there are some really cute projects you can do with the zippers. For example, the rose pins I made from the really heavy #10 zipper that came out of a Carhart coat. I have pictures here and later I'll do a tutorial on how I made them. The other example is the awareness pins I made for fundraising efforts for Relay for Life. These were super easy and very cute. Later I am going to make pink ones for Breast Cancer Awareness month in October.

Those are the more obvious ones that come to mind. The rose pin idea I found on the internet but I made it my own way. The other pins were my idea. I still think there is more I can do with these old zippers. I don't want to throw them away to end up in a landfill forever. So I have some other thoughts. The following is a list of ideas I plan to do with the zippers down the road when I have time.

• Use them as accents on projects such as totes, jackets, pillows instead of using piping.
• Use them as accents at the bottom of curtains and if you use metal ones they act as weights too.
• Cut the tape off, coil them up, and glue them down into an artwork piece.
• I have seen the sliders turned into ear rings and I have seen the zippers with the tape on them wrapped around an old pair of hoop ear rings to give them new life.
• If the slider is still good but the zipper is shot save the slider to replace another one sometime down the road.
• On longer zippers where some of the teeth are missing turn the zipper into a shorter one for a future craft project.
• Decorate a picture frame

I am sure if I had time to sit here all day I could come up with more but I'll have to do that later. In the meantime enjoy the photos of my zipper creations thus far. For now it's back to replacing more zippers.