Studio Notes
My plans for these studio notes will be pretty similar to blogging—sharing with you the happenings in my studio, new techniques or ideas, kind of a potpouri of musings. While I'm working diligently to get all the notions, trims and embellishments photographed so I can add them to my website, I thought I'd devote this first entry on this page to designing fabulous buttons for embellishment.
Piggy-Back Button Embellishments
I love vintage buttons! I love scooping them up and letting them pour through my fingers. I love their colors, their shapes, their patina, really, just everything about them.
I have drawers of old buttons, each one organized by color. Old jewelry finds occupy another couple of drawers. This makes it easy for me to find just that right button when needed.
When I designed the Yesteryear Collection, I was especially delighted to find new ways to add buttons and jewelry as adornments for the hats, purses and shoes. As I played around with the buttons and jewelry, I started piggy-backing them with other buttons or pieces of jewelry. On a simple button, I might thread several seed pearls to cover the button holes and add color.
A few notes on the buttons featured on the left - starting at top, going R to L.
The first piece is 3 buttons piggy-back, the second piece is a large foundation button with an old clip-on earring glued on top. I use metal clippers to remove the clip.
The next two are foundation buttons with a pierced earring through the button hole and fastened.
Double piggy-backs and more earrings glued on top for the next few rows.
The ribbon flower was on the display when it was photographed. It also makes a wonderful embellishment.
The last row is an example of sewing on the button and threading seed pearls on your last loop.
Note: thrift stores often have inexpensive bags of mixed jewelry, lone earrings, broken watches, charms—these are often some of the best finds. And it's so much fun to search for them.