Your pliers have a round metal holder on one side, and on the other side, a yellow plastic wheel with both a round plastic holder and a metal punch. Make these centering marks on both the front and back of your fabric. Using a fabric pen or pencil, mark where you want the CENTER of each part of the snap. Traditionally, the back of the socket will on the front of your project. Think through exactly where you want the ball and the socket parts on your project. A decorative snap would have one solid back piece instead of a ring, such as the pearl snaps on a cowboy shirt. The parts of a snapĪ complete snap has four parts: the ball, the socket, and the two rings with spikes that attach them to the fabric. We used two layers – a single piece folded once and ironed flat. You can use lightweight fabric with metal snaps, but you must add a layer(s) of interfacing, both for thickness and to keep the little spikes from tearing holes around the snap.įor our example, we chose a medium-weight, cotton fabric. If your fabric isn’t thick enough (or layered enough times), the spikes don’t penetrate evenly and your snap doesn’t look right. These spikes penetrate your fabric and then are jammed into a groove on the other part of the snap. Try the Babyville plastic snaps linked above for lightweight fabrics or consider a different fastener, such as a sew-on snap or hook-and-eye.Īs you’ll see below, part of each snap is a metal ring with little spikes on it. Metal snaps will not install properly if your fabric is too thin. There is also a heavy-duty plier kit available and a myriad of plain and decorative snap options. Using the Dritz Plier Tool, you squeeze the handles to embed the two halves of each snap part. This is the tool that’s readily available at fabric stores (in store and online) and the one we’re using for the following instructions. It comes in a variety of sizes to accommodate the various snap dimensions, and they offer regular and long prong snaps. SnapSource refined this technique with an affordable tool called the SnapSetterthat makes it simple to align your snap parts and only requires moderate tapping with a small hammer. The “old school” way of installing snaps was with a wooden spool, a hammer, and a very sturdy surface. You get good crushing force and perfect alignment. It looks something like a heavy duty stapler with an arm to give you extra leverage. If you’re going to be installing snaps 24/7 and have about $100 to spend, you should get a small industrial snap press. And, they’re completely reversible!Ĭhoosing your tools Industrial Snap Press Their bright colors and cute cover designs are great for children’s projects and more. If you like this article, you may also want to check out our step-by-step tutorial on the Babyville Plastic Snaps. But billions of snaps are successfully installed each year, and by taking a few precautions, you too can successfully install snaps! Take a look at some of the online forums for tales of woe, tragedy, anguish, and regret. What could possibly go wrong?Īs you might imagine, plenty can go wrong. You just take a series of tiny metal rings (which can be set up twenty wrong ways and only one right way) line them up within a millimeter of perfection, and then crush the whole assemblage together as hard as you can through several layers of fabric. He’d probably fall into the stands trying to pull his sweats off over his giant shoes. Just think how long it would take an NBA player to jump up from the bench and get into the game if he didn’t have those “quick release” sweat pants with snaps running up both sides. That’s why they’re used in everything from mountain climbing jackets, to yacht covers, to baby clothes. They’re easier to use than buttons and more durable than Velcro®. For some sewing applications, there’s nothing that works quite as well as a metal snap.
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