Buttons

Button(s) was our theme for February. While there were mixed levels of enthusiasm when the theme was chosen, everyone came through with a great piece!

Pat: I thought of every phrase or saying that used the word "button" for example, "all buttoned up," "button your lip," "button hook," etc and made pictograms using words and graphics printed on fabric, embellished with buttons. I was so happy about this project because I have many, many beautiful buttons!

 

Cathey: I did not use real buttons but instead, made my own. I cut circles from Timtex, covered them with batting, then fabric. The colors in the piece were inspired by a piece I saw on the web but I used different shapes and swirls. These colors are definitely outside my comfort zone! After the top was pieced, I stamped it paint to create the open circles to echo the buttons.

 

Joan: I thought I had a good idea and started a project that just did not turn out like my vision. After abandoning that project, I decided on a beetle. I started with a photograph of a beetle and manipulated it on my ipad in a program called "percolator." It is a fun program that creates cool bubble effects from a picture. I printed it on fabric and it served as a guide for the buttons. I have a great button collection with lots of colors. The antennae are not stitched down and have floral wire inside them so can be manipulated. The edge finish is curvy for something a little different and the binding is pieced from different fabrics.

 

 

Hope: All of us in the group love fabric (of course!) and when we can find cool fabric at bargain prices, we are over the moon. Cathey from our group tells us stories of diving into remnant bins and sometimes jokes that she has to call for someone to hold her feet. That mental picture was my inspiration for this piece. My piece is Cathey diving in for prize fabric snippets.  

 

 

Melanie: I actually made 2 pieces. At first I was lukewarm about the project because I do not have a button collection. I have a few silver and gold buttons I was using for closures on some small bags I was making and that is it.

 

In the first piece, I used silver buttons as stars and the face in the middle was made and given to me by my friend, Mary Oliver. Under the face and buttons is Angelina fiber and beyond the Angelina, are crystals.  A piece of silk sari strip waste is stitched along the bottom. I call it "Goddess, Center of the Universe," really meaning we as women are all goddesses.

 

The second piece is an easy button (Staples claim to fame) which I printed on fabric, then painted over with red, white and silver fabric paint. The button is trapuntoed.

 

 

  

 

Marcia: I found a great match between some fabrics I had and some buttons in my collection. The colors are soft and subtle and the buttons blended really well. Even though I am mostly a hand sewer, sewing on all those buttons was work!