Embroidered Buttons

I love covered buttons and some of the most beautiful are those with embroidery motifs on them. Here are a few I found perusing flickr - just type in "embroidered buttons" and you can enjoy many, many more...these are some of my favorites!


1. blue rose button, 2. all the covered buttons, 3. embroidered button swap - bunnies, 4. Embroidered Buttons, 5. Embroidered buttons, 6. Kristin's, 7. robot faces, 8. pin wheel card, 9. embroidered owl buttons, 10. buttons2, 11. simply june: embroidered buttons, 12. Snowdrop Bouquet embroidered buttons, 13. fall_buttons, 14. Embroidered Crown Buttons, 15. embroidered pin back button, 16. Embroidered Buttons

I'm in love with Nancy!

Oh, that nancygamon. She's combined bright, beautiful colors with hand embroidery for some absolutely lovely things. Nancy is an independent designer, who started sewing in the 1970s. From her Etsy profile: "I started sewing as a girl in the late 1970s. My 4th grade project was a pair of elastic waist pants in forest green polyester. I'm happy to report that my fabric stash, and my fashion taste, has been steadily improving ever since." I believe her!

I never would have thought a gnat could be so beautiful. Everyone needs a Gnat Hat.Keep your change in this sweet coin purse and you'll want to use coins to pay for everything. I wonder how many coins it will hold. What's wrong with paying for groceries with quarters?!?
I scream like a little girl when I see a bug, but even this one changes that scream to a squeal of glee. Seriously. When has a bug every looked so lovely.

Stories and Thread.........

"I love all things small"....starts the introduction page to Shelece's etsy profile. "Tiny little treasures, little pieces of paper, a plastic charm, the weave of fabric........and so I live with jars and tins filled with all of these small beautiful things......" Sound familiar? I think to love embroidery one must love small things, and probably collect them......

Though I was wooed by the images of Shelece's little quilts made from repurposed, recycled vintage fabric, hand-quilted and appliqued, I became connected by her stories. We all have them, don't we? Stories that sound vaguely familiar when someone tells them. I wanted to share some of Shelece's work and some of her stories because they look so much like the fabric of our lives......

I Cut My Own Hair

This one made me laugh because all five of my kids did this one time at least, and one boy insisted on it several times. I loved how Shelece sprinkled the hair all over the ground! Check out how she describes this event in her life in her etsy store.

Blanket for Dolly

Shelece says: "My grandma deeply instilled in me the idea that dolls must be kept warm. I remember when I was little taking my doll over to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner. I arrived all bundled up in my red wool coat with my doll tucked under my arm. Grandma met me at the door and gasped 'get that baby in here this minute, she's only dressed in a swim suit and a dish towel, she'll get sick and die in this weather!' Horrified I hurriedly bundled her under my coat to keep back the certain death my grandma knew was lurking around the corner for my unprotected doll."

Chicken Races

Shelece didn't explain this one, but I have enough imagination left from childhood that it needs no explaining. There are so many wonderful creations that, of course, I can't post them all, but maybe a few.

Best Big Sister Ever

Shelece says: "I was the youngest of six kids and I always wished I had a little sister to love and dress up and push around in a stroller. My older sister assured me that having a little sister was anything but fun, she said, "it's like having a dog with no legs permanently tied to your waist and you have to drag it everywhere you go." All that did was make me really want a dog! And if I could get one with no legs, all the better, it would be easier to dress and would never run away!

Well, this is just a taste of Shelece's view of life from an embroidery standpoint. I think it's wonderful and asked her if I could share it. Here are a few more without the story, perhaps I have peaked your interest?

Jumprope

Fighting for Dolly

Okay, I guess you have the idea of why I was so smitten with these. They are made with the idea that someday they will be framed. I love the stories of people, and I really enjoyed Shelece's walk through a familiar world in her eyes. Thanks for sharing, Shelece.

hens teeth: contemporary

Here's another mini interview with one of the talented ladies in the Pool. This time it's the wonderfully talented Viv from hens teeth. She also has a blog. She makes the sweetest plush and embroidery on paper ephemera. Let's see what she has to say about contemporary embroidery:

How do you define contemporary embroidery?
I define contemporary embroidery as the use of traditional and none traditional materials worked in an unexpected way.

What perceptions of embroidery do you meet? And are they changing?
It depends on who is doing the perceiving!

I meet the conventional with my use of traditional embroidery stitches but then I hope to cross the expected when I combine these stitches with my collection of discarded ephemera. Placement of these collected surfaces combined with stitchery, I hope, evokes reflected memories and a sense of our heritage, a narrative image but using up-to-date processes. To take various elements and place them together into a coherent piece is extremely gratifying.

I feel the world has opened it's eyes to the possibilities of embroidery, endless wonderful possibilities.

Why do we need embroidery?
We do not need embroidery, i.e. my husband has no need for embroidery at all in his life but for those of us who do, embroidery evokes a myriad of emotions. As well as, textures to stroke, beauty to behold, memories to stir us, inspiration to fill us, untold possibilities of subject matter to enjoy and techniques and materials to please the soul.
And for me....... all consuming.

Thank you, Viv!

Cupcakes

I'm very into these sweet treats right now. They're so fun and you can do so much with them - as these stitchers have! Here are some cupcake examples from the Flickr Embroidery Pool and the Flickr Sublime Stitching Pool...enjoy!!


1. Cupcakes!, 2. patchwork zipper pouch with embroidered cupcake, 3. Sweet Dreams Pillowcase, 4. CupCake Tea Towel, 5. Cupcake Onesie 9 to 12 Months, 6. February 4th, Thing 4: card, 7. Sweet WIP, 8. cupcake, 9. cupcake-handstitched, 10. Play cupcakes, 11. cupcake on drink sleeve, 12. Cupcake, 13. keyrings, 14. Cupcake embroidery detail, 15. cupcake sprinklage, 16. Cupcake Ornaments

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

I was poking around the interwebs and came across this wonderful website, The Mexican Dress. You can download a pattern to make a billowy cotton dress, tunic or peasant blouse for you to embroider in colorful, fanciful designs. Living in Austin I often see Mexican embroidery, and it's truly inspiring with its flourishes, florals and birds. A dress like this makes a great canvas.

Embroidery- the Embellisher Queen

Hi Everyone! I hope you are looking forward to a new project! I have learned that sometimes I fail to make use of some valuable tools I have when I am looking for an embroidery project. As an embellisher, I constantly look for things to put my "signature" on. Lately, when I go to a fabric store, I have been looking at fabric as a canvas, rather than a painting. Instead of being satisfied that the fabric is doing all the work, I look to see what I can do to make it "mine".

I suppose because I am a painter on certain days, looking at things as "unfinished" seems to happen to me quite frequently. I like working on muslin and filling in all the wonderful colors, but sometimes I like to look at something that's already on its way and change it's course. I will show you some examples of what I mean, and then, give you the directions for the little 'checkbook holder', 'pocket folder', or 'clutch', whatever you decide to use it for.



Here is an example of a fabric that had cats printed all over it. I trimmed one of the cats and left enough border to stitch it to another piece of fabric. To make things easier, I ironed it on with Heat and Bond Lite first. (The light Heat and Bond lets you sew through it).



I blanket stitched around the outside of the cat, but, after looking at it, I probably could have just straight stitched and been just as happy. I thought of filling in the stripes, which is an option, but I left them open.


Here, I used the 'themed' fabric and just took it a step further with adding the word 'teacher' and a few flowers to pull the pieces together. Later, after looking at it, I added white centers to the flowers, but I will not post that picture to save space.



Here, again I used the 'themed' fabric and added the image, and after looking at it, tied it together with embellishing one of the 'cat' words on the already printed fabric.


This little trick draws the piece together and gives it that personal touch. Now, I will show you how this is all put together. (what to cut, directions)


Cut the following pieces: 2 pieces 7" x 3 3/4" that will be the cover. They look like that above. While you are cutting them, imagine them folded in half width-wise, so if you are placing a particular design that it goes where you want it. (not upside down) This piece above gets folded as the cover of the folder. Stitch these two pieces together and plan your embroidery embellishments and do them before anything else.



Here, I have embellished the 'plain' dragonflies. At this point I debated about beading, which would have been great on this design. I added the word 'dragonfly' and stitched the flowers in the dark area to tie it together. This is a good time to add your label if you have one, also.



Now, this is the tricky part. I did it wrong the first time, so my picture was wrong and I can't show it. Cut 2 pieces of fabric 7" x 6" that will be the inside pockets. Fold these lengthwise and iron, then lay them on the right side of the cover (the outside) the opposite (which would be crossway) direction of the division of the cover. In other words, the two lines would intersect. Make sure the fold of the pocket is facing the middle, and the side you want showing facing the cover.

Then, cut one piece of fabric (this will be your lining) 7" x 7 1/2". Lay this piece face down on top of the pockets. Pin all around, leaving a gap for turning. I like to leave the gap on the back side bottom. This will be handstitched after turning. After stitching and trimming, pull the entire thing through that opening and push corners out and iron flat. I hand stitched snap closures on mine, but this is optional.





I wanted to show this last kitty folder because I wasn't happy with it after I finished it. I don't think the newspaper fabric 'worked'. I would probably use a solid or vaguely printed fabric instead, next time and use the newspaper fabric for the folders.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and idea post. Let me know if you use it, I would love to see what you do with it.

note: pattern pieces below are not actual size - they're a guide to show you what to cut...