The Little Zipper That Could

Does this pattern look familiar? It should because I already made it! But in my sewing hustle to make Mia some work clothes, she chose this pattern that I used to make her Ariel dress. This time we are using view C. She chose this pretty rose fabric. Would anyone notice that she had the same dress, one with sleeves and one without, in 2 different prints? I doubt it, so lets sew!

I quickly got the pattern laid out on the fabric. It was a breeze since I’ve already done it!

Whenever I try to sew in a hurry I make simple mistakes….like forgetting to plug in the iron.

I’m getting really good at this bias edging! Also, never sew over your pins. *The More You Know*

Here I am at home working hard, and here’s a picture of Mia that week…..working hard? She was at a team building event for work. I truly am so happy that she loves Georgia and her new job!

Time for the zipper, so let’s talk about this guy.

I have a lot of zippers. I inherited Grandma’s stash, and have quite a stash myself. Was this one mine or Grandma’s? Who knows now, they’ve all been mixed together!

The zipper for this dress is 61 years old! I was curious about this zipper so I did a bit of research.

The Talon Zipper Company was the first zipper manufacturing company in the United States, founded in 1893, as the Universal Fastener Company. They first made hook less fasteners for boots and shoes. The zipper was invented in the 1920’s and they began to mass produce them. The company was at it’s height in the 1960’s.

The company was sold around after the business declined. They could not compete with zipper manufacturers abroad. (Sad.) In 1996 the Tag-It Pacific company from California bought the business and changed their name to Talon International, Inc. The company has survived and is still in business, and here’s a fun fact; They retrofitted their manufacturing facilities to provide medical and non-medical staff with PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) in 2020. And part of the proceeds from the sales they donated to the organization Feeding America. Yay for them!

How do I know for sure how old this zipper is? It has a copyright date. I appreciate that they added that, it made my research easy! Side note, I love old zippers. If you can find them in second hand stores, or yard sales, pick them up. They were made better back then, are less expensive than brand new, and already exist! Waste not, want not!

This guy has been waiting long enough, time to get to work!

Sometimes getting it all to line up right is a challenge, but not today! This little zipper was ready to do it’s thing!

That’s right little guy, working and looking great!

The dress was packaged with the mushroom dress, and sent off! Thank you USPS! 🙂

It doesn’t even look like the same dress pattern! (OK, to me it does, but I made it so that doesn’t count)

I’m sure she was on her break when she took this pic….or I’m sure it was after work!

Selfie with a cardigan!

When you sport a one of a kind dress to work…

I really like the way this dress turned out. I think she could dress it up or down for multiple occasions.

My favorite part of the dress is the zipper. I’d like to think it was waiting all these years to be matched to the perfect dress. I hope it’s happy now that it is being used. Sometimes finding where you belong takes time! This little zipper taught me that it’s never too late!

As for me, onto the next!