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National Button Day, November 16, 2022

Nov16

I LOVE buttons!!! As a kid my mom kept a wooden cigar box in the sewing cupboard, it was full of buttons and all manner of treasures! When we were sick, or sometimes just bored she would pull out the box and let us play with them. At first I just loved the sound that the buttons made when they fell on the table, then I loved just looking at the colors, then I started imagining what I would do with them all. I learned a lot about color, shapes and sizes by playing and arranging these little treasures on the rug in the living room. My mom in her quiet wisdom allowed us to explore, and to create our own self-taught course on design.

What button box, stash or hoard does not include mother-of-pearl buttons? Here are two pins that I have made for a project that is included in my new book, Creative Embroidery, Mixing the Old with the New. The last image shows you a shell that the button blanks were cut from, and a collection of buttons.

Abalone shell buttons
Tahiti shell and brown muscle shell buttons
Metal buttons

Every discerning collector has a favorite material or type of button that they collect. I happen to love all of them!

  • Santa Fe Talisman starts with a base of velvet ribbon. I used abalone shell, brown muscle shell, jade and turquoise buttons. Additional components are glass seed and larger beads, shell and freshwater pearls.
  • Cobble Stone Collar is entirely worked in a beaded stitch. The Tahiti and brown muscle shell buttons, and fresh water pearls were stitched on after the piece was stitched.
  • Umbrian Vintage starts with a base of two silk rouleau cords, with the buttons and beads worked between them. I used metal, celluloid, and glass buttons as the focal points, with glass seed and larger beads for embellishments.
Celluloid Buttons
Glass Buttons
Tagua Nut Buttons

Buttons are easy to stitch in place with threads or beads, and therefor are not damaged in anyway. This way the beauty of the button can be appreciated, and the history preserved.

  • Deco Plumeria started with a grosgrain ribbon base, with hand-stitched ribbonwork flowers and leaves. I embellished these with a collection of celluloid buttons and glass beads.
  • Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride started with a velvet ribbon base. I used black glass buttons, metal buttons, and a few novelty buttons. The embellishments include vintage glass beads, seed beads and larger glass beads.
  • Woodland Roses also started with a velvet ribbon base. I used carved Bakelite roses for the focal points, and surrounded them with a collection of tagua nut and celluloid buttons.

If you want to know more about buttons, check out Piecework Magazine July/August 2013, for an article that I wrote called My Button Box. And in my new book, Creative Embroidery, Mixing the Old with the New, by C&T Publishing, I have a chapter dedicated to “What’s in Your Stash”, with two pages dedicated to button materials, types and more.

I hope that you too have happy fond memories of your mom’s button box, bag, or jar! Happy Stitching, ~Christen

National BUTTON WEEK!!!

Mar15

In honor of National Button week I thought that I would share a few of my projects where I used buttons, lots and lots of buttons.

The following two images show that buttons are the queen! And that she graciously allows ribbons, trims and other ephemera to come along for the ride!

buttons, lace, ribbon, charms, steampunk
buttons, charms, ribbon

The following two images are from classes that I have taught at the International Quilt Festival in Houston Texas.

button bracelet, vintage buttons, beads

This is another class that I used to teach, beads and buttons, what more could you ask for?

beaded bracelets

Here are the links for the rest of the week:

Hope that you enjoyed looking! Happy stitching! ~Christen

Friday’s Favorites: Tagua Nut Buttons

Nov6

tagua nut buttons, Bakelite roses

Woodland Roses

Friday’s Favorites is all about “tagua nut buttons”. The vintage buttons on the necklace and bracelet are made almost entirely from tagua nut (the necklace has a few celluloid buttons). I have used mostly natural colored buttons, but a few have a darker brown dye added to the carved ones, some even have a cross-hatch pattern which is quite pretty. I used a variety of buttons on the necklace, two hole, four hole and shank; in designs such as “fish eye” and whistle; where as on the bracelet just shank buttons. The vintage roses on the necklace are carved Bakelite, and the round discs on the bracelet are wood. The necklace is a variation of my “Vintage Bling Bling” pattern, and the bracelet is the “Bohemian Button Bracelet” pattern.

Vegetable Ivory- or Tagua Nut from the Corozo Palm (except from Button Identification and Cleaning)

This nut comes from the Corozo Palm that grows in South America. It is a hard, versatile nut that can be carved and dyed. It has been used since the late 19th century s an alternative to ivory because the striations of the nut resemble those in ivory. It is softer than bone. The dye only absorbs on the surface layer, so the carving is left as the natural color of the nut. The tagua nut was popular from 1890- 1920, but has found resurgence since 1990.

vintage tagua nut buttons

Tagua Nut Buttons

All of these buttons here except for the red button are vintage.

What is amazing about tagua nut buttons is that each vintage one is made, one at a time, hand carved, hand dyed. Pretty remarkable.

The colors are so pretty close-up, rich natural browns; when dyed the colors tended to be greens both dark and light; black (which I ask what is the point because it is hard to see the beauty of the nut); browns from light to dark; and red as seen in the group that is tied together, notice the carving and how it shows the nut underneath. Some tagua nut buttons were inlaid with shell, or metal, some were dyed, carved and another color rubbed into the carving.

For further reading may I suggest “Button Button Identification & Price Guide”.

Enjoy your day, play in the button box if you have time! Christen

Tandletons: Embroidery, Tatting, Needle Lace Buttons

Mar16

Tandletons- hand made buttons stitched with needle lace, traditional embroidery, tatting

Tandletons- hand made buttons stitched with needle lace, traditional embroidery, tatting

These little threaded works of art are just so much fun to make. I start with Hanah Silk bias ribbon, create a form and stuff it with Polyfil.

I then take a few strands of Wildflowers from the Caron Collection and start stitching.

All of the stitches are created with a milliner’s needle, and a little imagination.

The techniques that I used here are:

  • Embroidery: buttonhole stitch, French knots, lazy daisies. I have also used silk ribbon embroidery stitches like the woven rose with the feather stitch
  • Tatting: basic picot flowers and the closed double knot
  • Needle lace: buttonhole stitch, woven star

I created a set of buttons for the May/June 2008 PieceWork Magazine, and there is a free article that you can download to create a few of these for yourself. The article is called: Buttons to Embroider and Needle- Tat (scroll down the index towards the bottom of the page).

Buttons to embroider and needle tat

Buttons to embroider and needle tat

I wish you hours and days of Joyous and Happy Stitching!