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rivets in jeans

NansiM | Posted in General Sewing Info on

Hi,

Does anyone have any ideas for removing rivets from jeans?  I’m trying to pry them apart with the tip of a butter knife but am not getting very far.  Any suggestions?

Replies

  1. crwritt | | #1

    You will probably have to drill them out, with an electric drill. I would drill from the back. Drill the center of the rivet, once some of the metal is gone, you can use pliers to work them out the rest of the way. Of course, the rivets cant be reused, and there will be holes left in the fabric.

    1. JudyWilliment | | #2

      I used a fairly small screw driver to pry up the edges of the rivet from the right side, then got a FIRM hold with strong pliers, and pulled off the bent up front portion.  The back protion then just falls out.  It takes a bit of force, but gets the rivet off without damaging the fabric any further.

      1. NansiM | | #4

        Thanks Judy!  Thr prying finally worked--it just took awhile!  This is an alteration I'm doing for a customer--do you think I can include "prying time"  into the bill???  (Just kidding, of course!)  Thanks, again.

        1. sarahkayla | | #5

          Actually - if your client asked you to remove those rivets - absolutely charge for the time it took you. If you had to remove the rivets due to your error -you have to eat that time.

          Sarah

          1. JudyWilliment | | #6

            I agree on the charging - if it's your client's request, by all means charge.  What I've sometimes done in these cases is charge for the time it took once I figured out how to do whatever it was - not how long it took me to figure it out!

          2. NansiM | | #8

            Thanks again.  See resonse to SARAHKAYLA.

          3. NansiM | | #7

            Thanks for the advice.  Actually, we had not discussed the rivets as I didn't realize they went thru the elastic until I'd already taken much of the stitching (one of those with three rows of stitching thru the elatic!).  My options at that point were to remove them or try to cut around them (they were only affecting the bottom row) and I really didn't want to cut.  I was hoping there might be a tool or an easier way than the prying (which killed my hands), sort of like the gadget dept stores use to rmove those wonderful security tags.  Maybe I should invent one - LOL-as if I'd have time!

    2. NansiM | | #3

      Thanks for the suggestion.  The prying finally worked so I didn't have to get out the heavy equipment --this time!

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