Self covered buttons are today’s topic of discussion. Big buttons are easy enough to cover and kinda fun. Little eensy weensy ones on the other hand are a huge PITA! Locating the suckers first of all. 20 mm buttons are the smallest available locally, so when I was in Toronto last, I searched out smaller ones, and found 18 mm buttons at a small shop. Just the right size for some detail down the back of a wedding dress.
Last night, sitting – WOW actually sitting and relaxing!- I decided to tackle covering them. I am pretty practiced at covering buttons, however the last time that I covered buttons that small, I was 20 years old and making my own wedding dress! I know there are tools available for this job, – like the ones in this kit-
but there were nothing the proper size in my house- and yes – again – none in Southwestern Ontario either. Not to be swayed from the job at hand, I brainstormed, looking at my boxes of supplies.
Then came the eureka moment. The gadget that is used in covered button making is basically a jig, to hold the fabric and button in place while squishing the fabric into place. (yes I know- there I was using great words like “gadget” and “jig”, then I had to thow in a kindergarten term like “squish”!! Gotta keep you on your grammar police toes dontcha know!) There just had to be something in all that STUFF that would work.
I tried a few things. Felt like Goldilock.
Some were too big.
Some were too small.
One was JUST RIGHT!
A grommet. 
This simple grommet had an opening just the perfect size to securely hold a button and a layer of peau de soie so that I could squish the fabric in and pop on the back!
So now I challenge you. Tell me what strange things you have done to (stealing from my favourite bobble head guy) “make it work“ ?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I haven’t a story to add, but Connie–you’re a HOOTJE!!
Soft hug,
Rhonda in Montreal (PR)
So now would be a bad time to tell you that I changed my mind on the buttons…
JUST KIDDING! I loves them.
You don’t even want to know . . . really! Good luck with the buttons, they can be a pain, especially those tiny ones.
I raided DH tool box, and unearthed the snapline / chalk line contraption. For marking straight lines on the floor & walls.
Push-pinned the line at calf height across the door jamb, then put on the skirt that needed hemming, and twirled around the stretched chalk line.
While the bright blue construction chalk was a bit difficult to get out, I had a very nicely marked hem line!
I tell ya, Connie, I do whatever it takes to “make it work”. I just had to fix an ugly area on a recent garment I made to do just that. And those little white covered buttons…you are bringing back many memories for me
. Yep, wedding dress memories. At first I was going to do a lot of little covered buttons, but then decided to use round, white, pearl-like buttons instead. There was just a certain number I was willing to cover and beyond that, no way LOL.
Aren’t you clever!I love covered buttons but I’ve never used any that small! I hope someone adds a hint about working with grommets. I use the big ones and the only way I can succcessfully get those damn things together is by laying them on a cement surface and hammering the daylights out of them. I’ve tried using a heavy board but in addition to not working, the sound is deafening. I live in an apartment now and last week I can’t imagine what I looked like to the stream of traffic flowing about 5 feet from me as I squatted on the sidewalk wielding my huge hammer, pounding away at my latest purse.