Contoured Pressing Hams

I was on the fence about writing about these hams because it might sound like a paid advertisement (which this is not!). But the novelty of these things won out. “Contoured pressing hams? Say what?!”

Let’s face it, hams are already a bit weird. They’re helpful and all, but they seem like an arcane sort of notion. I can’t imagine that quilters and home dec sewers have any use for them, so they’re just for a garment sewers (correct me if I’m wrong). Now here comes along contoured hams, which Ann of Gorgeous Fabrics called “as rare as hen’s teeth” in her recent blog post. Check out her new ham below:

Did you think “OMG, it’s Barney’s spleen!”, too?? 😉

Anyway, if you’d like to get a contoured ham for yourself, you can order one from Stitch Nerd. You can get a custom ham in your choice of fabrics or a ready-made one from her Etsy shop. She sells that nifty ham stand as well.

(Also, am I the only one wondering how she makes them? She has to leave a good-sized gap to turn the ham right-side out after stitching, and then she has to fill it really full with sawdust. I imagine that hand stitching the gap closed is not an easy task!)

All About Zippers

This post began with a link to the CBS ZipperStop interview that Pat sent me. I remembered the ZipperStop article in the New York Times, then around the same time, I saw a video about zippers & fasteners featured on Yahoo. Which brings us to a grand total of two videos and one article about zippers — enjoy!

CBS ZipperStop interview with Eddie and Jeff Feibusch (video)

Behind this unremarkable storefront is an unforgettable father-and-son institution.

For Eddie Feibusch, a Life in Zippers (article)

Eddie Feibusch, a prewar refugee from Vienna, is now among the last of the big New York zipper men.

Zippers & Fasteners (video)

Why does your zipper say Y.K.K.? The secrets of everyday fasteners — including who invented the shoelace, how Velcro got its name, and what zippers were called before they got a name with more zip.

Did you know the graphics in these posts are also links?
Click the one above to go to zipperstop.com.