In case you haven’t heard, March is Mending Month.  I do a lot of mending both on clothes and on items around the house, but nothing terribly exciting has popped up recently that seemed worth sharing.

Then I broke the little red tip off the head of my seam ripper and proceeded to stab myself in the thumb.  Ouch!   Now, a seam ripper is a super cheap tool and I have dulled my fair share of them.  This particular one is fairly new and I hated to buy a new one when it’s still in fine stitch-picking shape.  While casting my mind around for a solution to this problem, my eyes landed on my tray of ball head straight pins.

Now there’s a thought!

It took about 5 minutes, and that’s including the time it took for me to run and grab my camera!

You’ll need:

• Seam Ripper
• ball head straight pin (You could also use a bead, though the centers of all the ones I tried were much too large.)
• two pairs of jewelers pliers
• glue (optional)

seam ripper with broken head

Using the jeweler’s pliers, remove the pin from the ball head.

ball head with pin removed

If the opening in the  ball head is too small to fit, place the pin on the point of the seam ripper and gently turn to enlarge the existing hole.

Place the ball head on the broken part of the seam ripper head.  Use the pliers to apply enough pressure to secure the head in place.  Be very careful, the seam ripper point is sharp!

If the ball head you’re using doesn’t seem secure, use a tiny dot of Super, Tacky or hot melt glue.

Wallah!  Repaired!

As always, if you make any pattern or craft from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the Friends of sewhooked flickr group.

Happy crafting

also available on cut out + keep