Yay!

P has been babbling like crazy the past few weeks and saying some recognizable words more consistently. After Mama and Papa, his favorite word is 'ball,' which sounds like 'baw' with a big 'w' at the end. It's very cute and he says it all the time, over and over, and points and says 'ball' when he sees them. Last night he started saying 'yay'! The husband and I both say it all the time and hearing it come out of his little baby face, perfectly articulated is just too much. We spent all of dinner time trying to get him to say it. Fun!

At church this morning I got a really nice surprise! My friend, Mrs. D, our pastor's wife, beckoned me over and handed me a gigantic bag of buttons! YAY!

It was so sweet of her to share them, many came from her mother, but she saw this post and knew how much I adore unique buttons. I am definitely enjoying them already and I'm going to have to come up with some projects specifically to fit some of these cool buttons.

I spent a little time this afternoon watching a movie and sorting them out by color on a big baking sheet. It was exactly my kind of fun, so many different sizes, shapes, colors, and materials. (In the car on the way home from church, I was 'oohing' and 'ahhing' over them and my husband said I was like a seven-year-old girl excited about a hobby.) There were a bunch of vintage glass buttons-those milky white ones on the left above are all glass. There were some really interesting things too...

These are smaller than a pea, made of black glass and set with a rhinestone, very 'special occasion.'  

There were six of these "Indian Head" nickel buttons, when in the world were they manufacturing "Indian Head" nickel buttons and for what purpose? There were some other really neat metal buttons in shapes and designs I'd never seen before.

These are large, painted plastic and are a bit worn and chipped, but would be really special with a coat of bright, glossy spray paint.

 

Here are a few of my favorites. Love the colors and interesting shapes.

This one is tiny, clear glass with an etched design. So dainty!

These might be my favorite of the whole bunch! They are heavy and made of glass. I'm kind of nuts about them!

Thanks, Mrs. D! If you're seeing some of these for the first time and thinking: "Maybe I'd like to take those back now," you just let me know! :)


Are you like me? Looking at all these beauties makes me think I should have been snipping the buttons off my clothes before giving them to Goodwill all these years. But if you snip off the cute ones, do you have to replace them with plain ones so you're not just donating junk?

It's a conundrum indeed.

Fabric Covered Buttons

I love adding fabric covered buttons to my projects. They can always go sweet and girly or funky and modern, but they're also great for boys since masculine trims and decorations are so limited. Buttons can add that little something extra and still be boyish. They're a great way to give new life to an old garment, adding them to a coat or cardigan is an easy upgrade and can give that sort of "vintagey/Anthropologie" feel that I'm crazy about (notice next time you go shopping how many really nice garments have fabric covered buttons).

I always use the Dritz brand, half-ball cover buttons, these are 3/4" size ($2.99 for 4). They are really easy to assemble without any tools and are very sturdy and secure after assembly, but you do have the option of prying off the backing if you make a mistake or need to change fabrics. The ones that require a tool cannot be undone. These can be thrown in the washer and dryer and come in many different sizes.

Purchase your buttons, when you open it up you'll find an equal number of curved front pieces and flat back pieces. Raid the scrap bag and cut rounds just a little larger on all sides than the button. (There is a template and some brief instructions on the back of the Dritz box.). One thing that I always do is sandwich a small circle of interfacing approximately the same size as the button between the button and fabric. The metal is so shiny that after stretching the fabric around the cover, it can still reflect through-even if it's not sheer. This takes away from the quality, something akin to wearing a flimsy dress without a slip. :)

Next use your thumbs to pull the fabric up and over the edges of the cover, catching it on the spikes. Once it is relatively smooth and evenly distributed, grab the button backing and pop it on. Easy peasy...

And with rewarding results!