Button monograms & vintage linens

November 10, 2007

Button monograms & vintage linens

My 50th post! I promised I'd show more monogram projects way back in my 6th post when I put up this tutorial. I'm a little slow on the follow-through, but here's one I made a while back - a gift for Dianne. I used a vintage piece of embroidered linen which lent itself nicely to a large "D" right in the middle of it.

A full-on tutorial isn't necessary - this is more a of a tip on using buttons for design, not just function:

Cut out the pieces for a cushion cover in any fabric (I like vintage embroidered linen bits for monograms.)
Lay the front piece of the cushion fabric out flat with the right side facing up. Position your buttons in a letter shape. When you're pleased with the design pick up each button, one-by-one, put a tiny bit of fabric glue or white craft glue behind it and put it back in position gluing it to the fabric. NOTE: Too much glue may clog the holes and make sewing them difficult.
Let the buttons dry then sew them on. The glue lets you position them nicely for sewing without losing your design. This works well for buttons in shapes too - like hearts.

Mother of pearl shirt buttons like these are easy to come by. I usually find them in the big tins of buttons I pick up at boot fairs.

I doubt anyone could possibly need a cushion making tutorial, so I haven't made one. If anyone does need one, I found this - a great source for cushion making and other home sewing projects.

Oh and another - already? This is Tristan's photo/baby album. I made a very simple "T", same method as above, and covered the album with the fabric I sewed it to. Gracie's still waiting for hers, she's 6.

This is my first autumn with a blog, sure is hard to get the photos done before the sun goes down. I may have to resort to flash soon - ugh!

Nov 10, 2007 4:18:19 PM | Found, Repurpose/Reuse, Sewing , Tutorials