Sunday wonder - Z

Z is for zipper.

I have a huge collection of zippers. Most of them are 'estate' zippers, meaning that I have inherited them from relatives who no longer have a need for their sewing stash.


I can usually find what I need if I'm willing to make small color compromises. Too-long zips can be shortened as long as they're not made with metal teeth.


I think zippers are pretty amazing. I love how the teeth just neatly mesh together. And it''s interesting that the teeth can have slightly different shapes. If you would like to know more about the story of zippers, go here.



I have lots of different colors in my bag and many different lengths. When I was sorting them out - just because I like to sort - I noticed that there was a large group of 23 cm zips. What was really interesting was that they only seemed to be in three colors. Who bought them? Why only these colors? And why weren't they used?


I even found a bag in a thrift shop that begged to be taken home. It is one continuous zipper - even the handles.



If you unzip it you can roll it up and it is sort of smaller. I think the theory is that you can pull it out, zip it all together and you have a pretty big bag for your shopping or whatever. But it takes quite a bit of time to zip it up and I wouldn't just do that on the spot in a market. It is also kind of heavy in the roll. The big zipper makes it a fun thing to have.