Day 290 : Floof

 

Day 290 : Floof

Today's button is made up of an inkle woven tape, twisted cord and a pompom. Might be the influence of kittens in the house making me create pompoms two nights in a row? 

The tape is a smallish piece I had left over, it has a double row of dots and that gives the appearance of little beads. 

Friday! What a week. I'm really looking forward to a lie-in haha!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Size : 27mm / 1 1⁄16" / 42L

Day 248 : Road to Nowhere

 

Day 248 : Road to Nowhere

And for today's button, I give you another ear-worm. Seeing as I haven't done that in quite a while :)
You're welcome... 

This button has been made using a length of inkle woven ribbon. I have simply folded the two ends in, and then folded it in half, then stitched up the sides with a decorative stitch. I added a thread loop at the back to act as a shank. The band itself was warped up using a multi-coloured thread - there was no working out which is why it isn't perfectly even. I just measured out the warp and kept the threads in order, and got that stripe down the middle. 

I have made a few buttons with woven trims this year. The thing is, woven trims do make perfect loops for buttons. So why not try to make buttons from the same? 

Have a lovely weekend all. Gardening, housework and paperwork for me. And I probably will get sidetracked and do something else entirely :)

Size (longest) : Size: 20mm / 3⁄4" / 30L

Day 234 : The Capro

 

Day 234 : The Capro

Here's something quite different for today's button, introducing 

"The Capro Button Maker" 

This is made using the materials in a little box, consisting of a clear top, clear bottom, little tube of what I can only assume is glue, and a piece of rough cloth (for cleaning excess glue?). I didn't use the glue, goodness knows if there's even anything usable, but it might also be highly poisonous for today. Nor did I use the scrap of fabric. Sadly, there were no instructions in the box. But, I think it was pretty straightforward - add your cloth, some glue and push together. 

What I discovered was the cloth actually has to be really fine/thin to work at all. Perhaps then intended for silks? I've no idea what the age is. I want to say the 1930s, but then thought "It looks injection moulded, so no, too early". Quick search - turns out the first injection moulding machine was invented in 1872! Apparently it really took off in the 1940s, so perhaps this is closer to that. 

If anyone does know, please do let me know!

I chose a piece of really fine Egyptian muslin that I dyed many moons ago, and a piece of super fine silk ribbon woven by me. I am still very proud of this ribbon, it is soo very fine. This was part of what turned out to be perhaps the most important commission I've had to date - in that this commission, besides being for lots of woven ribbon and trim, was also for buttons.

And so began the obsession...

Size: 17mm / 11⁄16" / 26L

Day 137 : Reef

Day 137 : Reef

Today's button just made me think of a coral reef. I know it doesn't really look like one but...

It is made using a small piece of ribbon woven on our Little Loom as part of a demo. The first part was a plain weave, then there is a small section of tubular weave. I threaded some wire through the tubular weave to coil it and form the base of the button, and gathered one side of the plain weave for the outer section.

The lovely bead in the centre is handmade - part of a set I bought originally to make a medieval style paternoster, and the bead is a beautiful coral colour. The bead is from Tillerman Beads - they specialise in historical replicas - and their beads are quite wonderful.

If you'd like to know more about ribbon weaving (and using our tape looms) why not head over to the YouTube channel - I've got a playlist with shorts, including tubular weaving. 

You'll find it here

Size : (roughly!) 23mm / nearly 1" / 36L

Day 109 : Bespeckled

Day 109 - Bespeckled

Today's button is another made from a piece on tape (inkle) woven on my tape loom. I have added extra embroidery (so does this make it a doodle button too?) to cover the seam area. 

Another tactile button - I seem to be into texture just at the moment. This one's a bit squishy too. It would jazz up a dark cardigan quite nicely I think!

Size: 11mm / 5⁄8" / 24L

Day 78 : Pillow

Day 78: Pillow

I am so sorry that today's button has been posted so late! I had fully intended to schedule this post so that it would go live as I was doing the live Hochanda shows, but prep time ran away with me last night.

Today's button is a soft button, made from a length of tape woven on our tape loom . The tape loom was the feature of this morning's show, so there was a method in my madness last night. The mixed colours in the weave are because I painted the warp before weaving, trying something a little different that still needs perfecting. The green is decorative stitching to cover the seam. 

No solid mould - instead, this is stuffed with cotton.

Size (across the straight edge): 20mm / 3⁄4" / 31L