Devising a method for zipper organization and storage can save time and reduce frustration when your handmade business involves sewing!
In the Beginning
When I first started making cash envelope wallets, I only bought the basics in zippers–black, white, cream, and navy. But I soon realized how much fun my customers (and I!) were missing out on and began to add more colors. I kept them in a long, shallow, wooden drawer, and finding what I needed was kind of a pain. But even worse was keeping track of what I had on hand and reordering in a timely manner. As my business grew and I was ordering hundreds of zippers at a time, I knew I needed a better solution.
The Light Bulb
It suddenly hit me one day that the retail product display carousel that my husband had rescued from the junk pile at work and I had converted to a scrapbooking organizer would be perfect for zipper organization! (Yeah, running a handmade business full time has completely squeezed out my scrapbooking hobby.)
The Solution
I removed everything and added back any missing 2 1/4″ screw-in hooks so that there were eight on each side. I wrote the color names & numbers used by Zipit, my favorite zipper supplier, on tags which slide onto each hook. (I now have to double up on many hooks, so I just hang the tag behind each individual color.)
To keep the zippers bundled, they are strung through the bottom tape extension (the area below where the teeth end) onto large safety pins. We’ve found about 15 per pin to be ideal. I say “we” because I recruit either my husband or oldest son to do this job!
One great thing is that if a zipper color I need is in back of another, I don’t have to remove the one in front. The safety pins are large enough that I can unfasten them and remove zippers right where they hang.
Your Turn
Chances are that you’ll never have access to this type of carousel, but you can make your own wall version with a piece of wood, screw-in hooks, tags, and safety pins.
If this inspires you to create a similar system for zipper organization, I’d love for you to come back and leave a comment with a link to a picture. Happy organizing!
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