super zipper mom

Starting the kids off the way I do, "Have fun. Be good. Learn something" sometimes gets turned around on me. Bug thinks I should learn something myself. He recently suggested that I (finally) learn all the names of the Star Wars characters. Not gonna happen, child. Sorry. I just don't have enough brain cells left unused to bother with that sort of trivia. If I could only forget Jenny's grade school phone number, well then maybe I'd have space. But for now that will have to wait.

I can say however, that I have learned a new skill in 2008. A really useful skill. With only a pair of scissors, a pair of pliers, either hot glue or needle and thread, (plus or minus a crying child standing naked in front of me holding his favorite zip-all-the-way-up-the-front-sleeper) I can repair a zipper. I learned on a jacket this summer and just did it again. Proof that I really know this skill.

And for further proof, I will now teach the skill to others.

PROBLEM #1: THE ZIPPER HAS COME OFF
1. Take the zipper, attached presumably to only one side, to the lowest position
2. Make a small cut through the teeth of the unattached side just at the bottom of the zipper
3. Feed it into the zipper from the top
4. Zip the garment up and down a few times, tugging to align if off a bit
5. Sew or hot glue the garment above the point of the cut so the zipper won't slide off again

PROBLEM #2: THE ZIPPER ISN'T ZIPPING
1. Take the zipper to the lowest position
2. With pliers, pinch the zipper from top to bottom (inside of fabric to outside). Do this gently several times instead of once harder Each time, test drive it to see if it is tight enough to zip.

We had both of these problems this morning, but the sleeper is saved and Bug will live through another night.