Snap!

I attached the snap with the ring all by myself!Growing up in a relatively warm climate, I’ve never been much of a coat person. My logic is, “I come from a warm house, go to my car, which will be warm soon, then go from my warm car into a warm building. I don’t need a cumbersome coat.”

In Russia I quickly learned coats are important. Your apartment is warm, but instead of a nice warm car, there is a long walk in cold temperatures to a building which may or may not be heated. You need to keep bundled up at all times. Babushkas (grandmothers or older ladies) don’t hesitate to comment on your coat if they don’t think it is warm enough, and often if you stop and talk with them before going outside, they will adjust your scarf and do up coat snaps, buttons, zips and ties that have been inadvertently left undone while you talk. Even after seven years I don’t see a need for the very bottom snap on my coat which is zipped up from the bottom anyway, but I know if I see a babushka, or Russian woman in general, she will probably snap that last snap, so I try to remember to snap them all.

This fall when I picked up my winter coat from the dry cleaner, it was missing the snap that keeps the hood tight just under the chin. At home that wouldn’t bother me, but when you’ve been walking outside for an hour or more in negative temperatures, you really like that snap near your face.

I bought a set of heavy duty coat snaps and a snap setter tool which sat on my coffee table with a hammer and a piece of Mum’s old nightdress (practice material) for almost a week. I looked dubiously at the little pile of tools each time I passed thinking, “I hate all that stuff just sitting there!” but was nervous to try. What if I ruined my coat? The more I looked at it, the more daunting the project seemed.

Finally I couldn’t stand it any more and tried a practice one. I guess I hammered too hard. I punched an almost perfect circle out of the material, leaving the snap hanging onto the rest of the nightdress by a few threads. Certain the coat material was sturdier, I held my breath and tried it on the real thing – not hammering so vigorously . . . and it worked! What a feeling of accomplishment! I feel like a champion snap-setter.

We always need coat repairs. When you buy a Russian coat the first thing you do is pull the buttons off and re-sew them onto the coat. This does not usually require much effort, they often conveniently fall off in your hand before you wear it the first time. Usually it’s a good idea to do the same with the pockets which have a tendency to fall off too. Now that I’m experienced, I’m bringing the remaining snaps and snap setter tool back to Russia to help the kids if they need snaps on their coats.