Button, Button, Who Has the Button?

When I was at Matt’s, I finally decided on the type of window treatment I wanted to sew for my kitchen. It’s a fairly simply construction, but I needed large buttons for the decorative effect. Of course not just any button would work, so the search began. After an evening of searching the Internet and an afternoon of browsing through buttons at local stores, I was beginning to become discouraged. The button needed to be approximately an inch in size with a nautical feel, and I needed ten. A few buttons I discovered that might work ranged in price from $3-$4. Since I didn’t want to pay $30 or more on just the buttons, I struck out on all accounts.

Yesterday an idea started germinating…could I make a button? The idea of a monkey fist appealed to me, but I haven’t been very successful with that knot, plus Iwould have to make ten! My next thought was to make a button that looked like a coiled ship line. As I continued to ponder, I decided I could use the back part of covered button sets as the base and to glue coiled twine on it.

Shopping at Hobby Lobby today was a success. I found exactly 10 covered button shells in the right size and an ivory colored coiled trim in the perfect size. My total purchase, including the glue was only $16.85. The best part is that I made them this afternoon in less than an hour. Tomorrow I will cut the fabric and begin sewing. I should have them hung by the weekend.

I took pictures as I worked, and have posted them here. I cut the cord with a hotknife to prevent fraying. I determined the cord length by coiling on the button back. Next I spread the tacky glue on the button back with a toothpick. Now I can hardly wait to sew them to the window treatment. When I finish I will post more photos.

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