On Tips and Tea on Tuesdays, I will cover a topic and hopefully provide you with some tips that will be helpful! And just as an afterthought, tea may occasionally be a cup of Joe!

Tea today, is actually a cup of coffee. Feeling a bit cold, and this always warms me up. As I was sipping, I decided to go through a group of trims and buttons that I purchased on eBay. I came across this beautiful lavender hem tape, and noticed the rust spot left by the pin. UGGGHHH, if only I had thought to ask more questions before buying!

Rust is such a universal problem, it happens everywhere. So let me show you a few items of mine that have some rust damage, and what I will do about it.

Finding rust spots on your fabric, ribbons, or trims is a bummer! The rust will continue to rust, and no matter how small the spot is, it has already deteriorated the fiber that it is touching.

Tip: My recommendation is to remove the pin or needle, and discard it somewhere where no one will prick themselves. Then, if possible, cut the fabric, ribbon, or trim so that you avoid using the rust spot. If you can’t just cut off that area, cut out a hole around the spot, then cover the hole with an applique, yo-yo, button or some other type of embellishment.

Rusted metal buttons, yikes! Metal buttons can rust for all types of reasons. Typically a two-part button has a piece of cardboard between the two layers as a filler, if the cardboard gets wet, well you can imagine what happens to the metal. Regardless of the type of metal, or amount of rust, it is permanent.

Tip: Some people may give you advice on removing the rust, like using baking soda, or lemon juice, and steel wool. But if you think of the rust as a bit of mold on a piece of fruit, you remove the mold, but you also took a good chunk out of that peach, right? So scrubbing the rust off down to the metal, exposes the raw metal, and probably any design. At some point, I might use these buttons in a mixed media collage project, where the rust will enhance the project, but not damage any fibers. Until then though, I keep these buttons away from the good (non-rusted) buttons, and put them in a jar of their own to admire, and treasure. They earned it!

Happy tea drinking and stitching to you! ~Christen

PS: If you have any questions or thoughts, just leave a comment! See Tips, Tricks, the Basics, for more helpful ideas.