Ever since LiEr at Ikat Bag started her Zip a Bag series and I both lost my fear of zippers and found out what brand new ones cost, I've been watching for estate sales and hoping to find another box of cheap zippers.
And yes, I do realize that it's somewhat crazy to shop estate sales looking just for zippers. But at the second estate sale I tried, I found some. The company running these sales doesn't do math the same way I do, so I'm not sure exactly what I paid for them. After subtracting what the angry stuffed kangaroo and Teenage Daughter's box of lace and some jigsaw puzzles should have cost, it worked out to something like three dollars for twenty zippers.
I'm happy and somewhat confused by their pricing. The zippers ranged from seventy-five cents for a big heavy duty one (which makes sense) to fifty or fifteen cents for nearly identical small ones (which doesn't.) Oh, and they were half off the marked prices. I'd expected them to sell me the box for a few bucks, so I didn't add them all up in advance.
I've got new-to-me zippers and Teenage Daughter has some vintage nail polish (apparently that's a thing) and we're both happy.
But if you're a professional running an estate sale, you just might want to take off the price tags from the sales that the deceased person bought the stuff from decades earlier. Because if the piece of masking tape on the item says fifty cents and you want twenty dollars, you're going to wind up with confused buyers.
Weekly Stash Report
Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 4 1/2 yards
Fabric added this week: 0
Fabric added year to date: 1 yard (+2 sheets)
Net used for 2016: 3 1/2 yards
Yarn used this Week: 0 yards
Yarn used year to Date: 400 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net used for 2016: 1150 yards
This post is linked to Patchwork Times.
4 comments:
I have a box of zippers from garage sales. With them being so expensive it's hard to say no to box for a couple bucks.
I agree about the zippers and the prices at estate sales.
i will have to try finding them that way, i use Zip it and but a bounch that way
At a craft show years ago I bought a brooch made out of zippers. "I could make that," I thought. I got as far as rounding up all the miscellaneous zippers I had accummulated.....I then left the pin on my sweater, tossed sweater w/ pin in the wash, and the glue washed out.
15+ years later a search for "zipper crafts" turns up many ideas.
Here's the sort of pin I bought:
http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2015/09/zipper-jewelry-patterns/
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