ButtonMad

ButtonMad
Teeny Tiny Bird Buttons

Wednesday 29 February 2012

Chicken Run


Yesterday's A-line floaty top has a partner...in mischief. The 'big sister' pleated bodice dress.

Hemmed with vibrant yellow Incomparable chicken and egg button fabric.


With a little fabric detailing under the arms.

And of course...chicken, hens and egg buttons:


I can picture two little sisters running hand in hand in their matching (but not in an embarrassing kind of way!) outfits!


Tomorrow we will announce the winners of our 9-hole button give away.

Tuesday 28 February 2012

The Egg has Hatched!

We are working on a new clothing line incorporating both our Incomparable fabric and button ranges.
We are hoping to set up a seamstress or two in the Western Cape in the near future.


This is a little A-line floaty top with the feature being a Peter Pan collar using our fun yellow Incomparable chicken and egg fabric.


The closure at the back features our Incomparable chicken buttons - and oh, it looks as though the egg has hatched!

I'm hoping the seamstresses are better at sewing in a straight line than I am (don't want my wonky sewing to be replicated!)


It's an exciting new project and work is more like fun and less like work than it has ever been!

Two days left before we announce the winners of this week's give away.



Wednesday 22 February 2012

Old Buttons and a Fun GIVE AWAY


Look what we found in a packet hidden away in the factory!

We made these over 14 years ago...sold some in South Africa...and then forgot all about them!


At first glance they may not seem too exciting - just regular buttons with a few more holes than normal...
 
but they provide a wealth of possibilities...
 
We use them to write our own personalised messages:
 



send hearts and kisses...xxx

  
 glue them onto bedroom doors, sew them onto overnight bags, personalise clothes and quilts with names and dates:

 
 As with all our buttons - they are handmade...



and fully washable...



Add any message you want to anything you can dream of:

 
But most importantly, have...

 
We used to make these square, round, in heart shapes, different sizes and painted but we have decided to keep it simple and add only the plain square to our catalogue...and let the variety come with the message you create!
 
We are so excited to have unearthed these old buttons that we are going to offer 10 sets in our latest giveaway - starting right now!
 
10 followers, anywhere in the world, including previous winners...open for one week from now.
 
Simply leave a comment letting us know how you would use them.
 
Blaize (my brother) wants to call these our golf set because of the 9 holes!





Tuesday 21 February 2012

Soft Blocks and Special Friends


I'm going to visit a friend and her baby girl over lunchtime today.

This friend was hospitalised for the first few weeks of her pregnancy. She was so ill the doctors thought she might have swine flu or even malaria as she had just completed a 7 month trip around Southern Africa.


After missing her first scheduled flight, and then a few more, she checked herself out of hospital and put herself on a plane (the very last one that would make it in time!) to come and join my husband and I at our wedding.

She was that adamant that she would be there with us.


It's friends like these who make the world a more special place.

I made her darling little girl a few soft blocks spelling her name and a pink pengy bird block with a bell inside.

I've used our Incomparable chicken fabric for his feet and beak:


 Attached a ribbon for his tail...and he is ready!

Is anyone else spending time with a dear friend this week?

Monday 20 February 2012

Safari, Farmyard and Zoo too!


I quickly made these finger puppets as an easy project to keep littlies entertained.

All you need is felt in various colours, coloured thread and a few buttons.



I chose my animals carefully - so pleased that all these animals interact with each other so often in nature that a story involving these characters will be easy to make up!


It's going to take a lot of imagination to create a scenario where a pengy ends up with the lion!


But I'm hoping the kids won't be too critical of story accuracy!


And will just be big fans of the 4 best friends: pengy, bunbun, oinker and the lion-heart!
A little imagination goes a long way!


Friday 17 February 2012

Heart-y Distractions


Mum has been busy cleaning up & sorting out her extremely messy creatively untidy studio today. Well mostly.

Here is a quick and easy tutorial she has sent through on how to make a simple and pretty decorative hanging heart.

Cut 6 heart shapes out of assorted paper (or thickened fabric)


Fold each one in half down the middle:


Gather them together and add a folded ribbon.


Then simply sew a line down the fold through all 6 pieces and secure the ribbon in that same line of stitching (you could use glue if you don't sew)

add an Incomparable heart button for extra embellishment:


Fan the halves out and hang from a door handle, key, anywhere that requires some brightening up.




Not only has mum been distracted from cleaning by little projects like this one but she has had these two rather special distractions pop in to visit:



Adding to the clean up challenge! This studio is a very lovely creative space full of inks and paints and cottons and yarns and handmade stamps. My nephew and niece always run up there as soon as they arrive on a visit and say how they wish they could just live in there...and cry when they have to leave as do I!


To be fair, it does look a million times better - but I despair to think what might be hiding in all those drawers!!


Have a super weekend!


Thursday 16 February 2012

Time for a little change...


A friend of mine is expecting to have her baby any minute today - its a boy!
Which is quite ironic as she is one of 4 girls and this is the fourth boy to be born to two of the sisters.

I missed her baby shower but am catching up by making her a few small gifts.

Mum and I found this adorable laminated fabric at Peter Jones this weekend and knew it would be perfect for a changing mat:


I used these sweet yellow chickens as my coordinating fabric on the other side:


Added a thin layer of batting to provide some comfort from hard surfaces.
Trimmed it all off with matching green bias binding...and chose an Incomparable mother hen button as the closure:


Now just going to go and make a cup of tea while we wait for the happy news!

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Heart Bunting


While we were in Paris last week, mum found some pretty pastel coloured wool which she then insisted on bringing proceeded to carry everywhere we went, crocheting these lovely little hearts.
'Look mum the Eiffel Tower', nope too busy crocheting - not really but almost!


She left them with me to write about and I'm pleased she did - they are so pretty and brighten up this empty space in my work room.
They are attached to a long crochet strand with mini clothes pegs.

I added some of our teeny Incomparable heart buttons.


Valentine's might be over but these are staying up for the rest of the year...

Tuesday 14 February 2012

From Paris, with Love


Last week mum and I spent a wonderful few days in Paris. Here we are on top of the Printemps building.


A very kind and enthusiastic fellow offered to take this pic and insisted on trying out about 10 different angles while we froze patiently (somehow I manage to have this spire sticking out of my head in every one! Mum has been joking that it's my new french fascinator!)


We visited our delightful new French agent - Jackie Marangos and her lovely daughter Natasha at the Aiguille en Fete...

and managed to fit in some shopping while we were there! This is my lovely stash which is my inspiration for the coming week...I found some of the sweetest, old fashioned little girls dress patterns - I'm extremely nervous about looking forward to the challenge of tackling my first pattern!


Mum left last night sniff and London seems greyer as a result.

Here are a few cute Valentine's messages that we saw while window shopping at Liberty's



and my favourite...


Happy Valentine's Day!
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...