We’ve had an email from Yvonne, asking:

I have a small vinyl accordion door (single door size). One of the vinyl folds are tearing. How can I fix?

There seem to be a range of vinyl repair kits available for fixing small holes in furnishings, which might do the job.

Searching around for general advice on repairing vinyl, it seems there is a difference between fixing it and fixing it neatly. It some places the latter is seen as important but it can be a pain to find vinyl to match the colour of your aged/sun-bleached stuff. On an accordion door, you could make a feature of the repair by using a contrasting stripe of colour – and uses more stripes to reinforce the other folds to stop their tearing in the future. That would probably take more vinyl than you’d get in a little kit though.

Any more detailed fix suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Maggie:

I’ve seen all your suggestions for reusing clothes but I’ve got an old coat that’s vinyl not cloth. What can be done with that? It’s got a tear right down the arm so can’t go to the charity shop.

If the tear isn’t in a very obviously place (perhaps on the underside or bodyside of the arm), it might be worth trying to repair it. I’ve not tried it but I wonder if, working with it inside out, whether a bicycle wheel puncture repair kit might work. Anyone tried anything like that?

Aside from that, it is certainly worth salvaging the material for use around the home or in craft projects. Obviously it depends on how it is constructed but I’d have thought the back panel would give you a nice flat piece of vinyl, and the sleeves opened out would be pretty good too. Take advantage of the fact it is waterproof and use it to make table protectors, swimming/gym bags, shelf liners – or if you’re very handy with a sewing machine, there will probably even be enough fabric to make a smaller version of the same sort of coat for a child.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Matt asking:

I have bags of unused scraps of upholstery vinyl, I’m trying to find out if these can be recycled and if so how?

At the moment they are just being thrown away but if they can be turned into something else then that’s great!

I suspect Matt is producing these scraps on a commercial scale so needing something more than craft suggestions. However, what might be a scrap to him (because, for example, it can’t be used for an entire seat cover perhaps) might not be a scrap to another person who wants to make smaller things out of them – there are organisations like Scrap Leeds who collect reusable commercial waste and redistribute it to schools, arts projects and crafters. If possible, it might be worth sorting out sizeable scraps while going along.

As for the truly scrap pieces, if they can’t be recycled back into sheets of fabric, it might be possible to shred them for reuse as insulation or stuffing – the hard bit is finding a nearby company who does that. Any suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Maja:

my daughter Tayeliee is in her “think-pink” state – everything around her must be very pink or very cute.

Her room is already stuffed with pink vases, pink lamps, pink chairs etc. but I think there is some trash-treasure that could be nice room deco. I don’t know exactly how to say it… well, is there any way of recycling trash into cute room decos for a 15 yr old?

I think it’ll depend on what she’s into really but when I was that age, I had loads of CDs and remember decorating old shoeboxes with salvaged, scratched-up vinyl records (45s) to make CD storage – I liked the clash of the old and the new.

Other ideas: if she likes candles, you can made trash-candle holders out of old tin cans (punch holes in the side with a hammer and nail to make pretty patterns) or CD cases; repurpose fabric from old pink clothes to make hanging storage pockets and, I don’t know if it’ll match Tayeliee’s version of cute but as I’ve said before, I think these little guys made from old plastic bottles are utterly adorable.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by thesaint)

I’ve been thinking a lot about old vinyl records recently because of Renee’s great idea of using them as a canvas for art and because of Kimberly’s suggestion to poke holes in one to hold earrings – I think I’m going to combine the two ideas to make a cool jewellery display unit.

Anyway, thinking about these things reminded me of Jeff Davis’ fab creations from old vinyl. Under the Vinylux brand, he makes a range of cool household items – bowls, snack trays, picture frames – and other things like cuffs (below left) and notebooks.

I especially like the picture frame (below right) – because the record is re-used in two ways: the outside of the record becomes the frame and the inside bit is used as a coaster.