You saw these on THIS post last week–they were given to the heart families staying in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit last week for Ruby’s surgery anniversary. They were fun to make and really quick. So whether you know a baby who’s had to or will have heart surgery or just love hearts and zippers, then this is for you! By the way–the reason zipper hearts are frequently used in the heart defect world is because we wish that our kiddos would have an easy in, easy out option, so they are often declared an official member of the “Zipper Club” once they’ve had open heart surgery. Also, they look like mended hearts a little bit :).
You’ll need a 7″ jean zipper. Honestly you don’t have to use a jean zipper, but the thick metal zipper just looks so much better than the nylon zippers. Trust me on this. They do have some neat colorful jean zippers, but I don’t love that the back of them are not printed on as well (which I understand that) and so I don’t like the white back to show when they are finished. They also have some great lace looking zippers at Joann that would be super cute. You’ll also need scissors, hot glue, and some type of ribbon or cording to hang the ornaments with.
Here’s a close-up of the stuff I bought at Joann.
You’ll want to cut the cord for hanging about 10″-11″ long.
Ok, so at the base of the zipper, cut each side at a 45 degree angle as pictured below.
Unzip the zipper until the zipper pull is about 4 teeth from the bottom of the zipper.
From your view, when looking at the top side of the zipper with the zipper pull, cut off 7 teeth on the left side and 5 teeth on the right side.
Now practice curving the zipper so you are sure you know how you are going to be gluing it. You want the zipper portion to be on the side towards you on the curve and then flatten it so the fabric of the zipper meets the bottom. See both pictures below.
Place hot glue onto the right side of the zipper (when looking at it).
Now place the other side of the zipper on top of that glue dot. Make sure that you are curving and placing the correct piece on top and not twisting it the wrong way or turning the zipper the wrong way.
See how the teeth are right next to each other on either zipper side:
Take your cording or ribbon and loop so there is a hanging portion for the tree, and then place both ends UNDER the zipper pull portion, and place on top of the bit you just glued together. This is optional but it will hide the ends of the hanging method you pick. Otherwise you can just glue it to the back but this gives it a more polished finished look.
Now glue over the ends of the ribbon and up the sides about 1/2″.
Carefully place the end of the zipper over that, pressing down to glue in place. Careful not to burn yourself! Press until it won’t move and the glue is dried, so not long.
Here’s the back now. I didn’t get my one piece over to the side it should be but it’s not a big deal. Hold the heart like the pictures shows below:
Place hot glue in the middle for about a 1″ section on the heart as shown:
Carefully push the ribbon or cord into the glue and let dry.
And here’s the finished heart ornament!
That’s it! Easy right? :)
All supplies found at Joann.
I love the zipper heart and all that it stands for.
Thanks so much Lisa!
I love this! I did not know about Zipper Club at all. Had an open heart surgery as a child 28 plus years ago, when it was still a new thing in South Eats Asia, repairing heart defects. Did you know that zip in French means lighting closer, as in close fast? I wish all families going through any surgeries of their love ones fast healing.
Well now you know you are a proud member of the Zipper Club! Thanks for the sweet comment!
This is such a sweet idea I can’t wait to make one for my heart mamma friend
Thanks so much! Hope she likes it if you do!
What a sweet IDEA!!!!!
My granddaughter had heart surgery at 23 days old and we are holdng a benefit for her soon, and I want to make these but I can’t seem to find those color zippers that you use, have even look everywhere on line.
Can you please help me
Thanks Debbie
Hopefully you received my email, but just in case :). I found the zippers I used at Joann. Etsy also has great deals, better than in the store. I bought from here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/zipperstop?ref=l2-shopheader-name
And again, I wish your family and sweet granddaughter the very best!