Zipper Reorganisation

The other day I looked at my tangled collection of zippers. Vintage zippers in old packaging. Zippers reclaimed from garments. Discarded zippers from other's stashes. I was planning to do some work that involved using a number of zippers but wasn't looking forward to sorting through the pile each time I needed one. Did I even have one the right length, the right colour, the right type? I couldn't go out and buy the right one when I have so many in my collection but a time consuming and possibly futile search each time I needed one was going to slow me down. I needed to reduce the frustration level if I was ever going to use them.

My zipper collection needed organising. 

I took time out to get my zipper collection under control. First I gave them all a good soak and a wash to freshen them all up. Once they were dry I needed to decide on the most useful way to organise them. By colour, by type, or by length? I decided the most important thing about selecting a zipper is its length. I sorted the pile by length.

Then tied bundles of same size together.

Later in the week I tested the system. It worked. Not only was there no frustration finding the needed zipper I easily found whether I had it or not.

While on the topic of organising systems. A few months ago I bought a myPad. I know, me a committed  android user. But this is a special myPad and way less expensive. It organises machine needles. With the sort of machine work I do, I change needles often and use a wide range of them. But I like to keep the lightly used ones separate from the new ones. I won't go into the details of the system I had set up to keep on top of my machine needles 'cause it was complicated but it worked. Then I found  this myPad. 

I don't know if you can see how it works in the above image. A piece of neoprene is printed with sections for different types of needles and has spaces within each section for different sizes. When I have a lightly used needle I park it in its matching area. The white headed pin is a marker telling me what sort of needle is currently in the machine. Like most systems, simple works best.

I bought the pad at a trade show but of course Amazon sells it, though a Google search comes up with places selling it for less than the big A is asking for it.

With a peaceful vibe restored in my studio, I can now get back to work.