Covered Buttons

A lot of brides say to me when they have their dresses altered that they would like it to be made more personal. A fantastic way of doing this is by adding covered buttons. They add a vintage and sophisticated feel to a dress whilst making it more your own. 

Covered buttons are available at most habadasharies and can be bought in a number of sizes in either plastic or metal. 

The first step is to plan where you would like to position the buttons. Pinning the buttons on at different distances will give you ideas of how it will look. Measure even distances and mark with pins or tailors chalk.

Once this has been done you can work out how many buttons you need to cover.

At the back of the button packet there will be a template to use to cut out the correct size circles of fabric. As I was using lace, I also used an underlayer to create a base colour for the buttons. In this case I used excess lining fabric after altering the hem length, but any similar fabric would also work.

Once I had cut out the under fabric I placed it on the lace with part of the lace pattern that I wanted to be seen. By then using a running stitch around the edge of the circle I secured them both together.

Now here is the fiddly bit. This may take a few attempts but bare with it.

Place the top half of the button in the centre of the fabric circle and start to pull both ends of the running stitch to gather the fabric around the outside.

 

Once you are confident the button is in the correct place pull the thread tight and tuck the fabric underneath the teeth on the inside of the button rim. (I use the point of my scissors for this as the metal teeth can feel quite sharp)

Make sure both layers of fabric are being held by the teeth as this reduces bulk and makes the next step easier.
Place the back of the button on top and then push firmly for it to close.  Depending on how thick and bulky the material is will make this relatively easy or hard. 

Now you have your lovely covered button!

The buttons can then be stitched onto the dress as previously marked up. If stitching next to a zip ensure that the buttons are not too close to it that it prevents easy opening and closing. 

Buttons can be added part of the way down the dress, to the bottom of the train and I also like the idea of putting smaller covered buttons on cuffs of long sleeves.

Enjoy!

Hi all, and happy new year!

It has been a very long time since I have blogged... so here is a task I was given over christmas to repair my dad's worn out jumper.

Elbow patches are not only sported by geography teachers and quirky university professors but have for a while now had a strong presence on the high street.  Here is how I made some for my non-fashion conscious dad, just a way to get a little bit more life out of a tired jumper.

First of all you want to create a template of the size of the patch you would like to create. To do this fold a piece of paper in half, then half again to get an even shape.

Open out and place on the jumper to check that is correct, trim as necessary.

To add extra strength to the patches I used interfacing between the layers, cut these to the size of your template.

Do the same for an under layer and the top layer which will be on show (I have used tw different colours so it is easier to see what is happening) with the outer layer, add seam allowance to this.

Pin together with the interfacing encased between the two layers.

For decoration I then stitched the layers together in a darker thread. These stitches can just be used to hold the pieces together whilst you are slip stitching though and removed before the patch is sewn to the jumper.

Turn over and slip stitch the top layer to the bottom layer encasing all the layers and creating a neat, clean edge.

Pin to the jumper in the required position and stitch to the jumper in whichever way you like. I chose to make a feature of it.

Another way of doing this is to add seam allowance to all pieces, stitch right sides together leaving a gap, snip into the seam allowance so a smooth shape can be achieved, then to pull them the right way through. Stitch the hole together and then continue to sew the patches onto the jumper.

I hope this is helpful and inspires you to think about how you can increase the life span of your clothes in our throw away society.

Lizzie x