More fun with fabric buttons

More Fun with Fabric!

But first.... awesome button board stuff:

Since we opened an actual brick and mortar store (in Seattle's historic Georgetown neighborhood!) I've had to think of ways to decorate it. I had to come up with a way of displaying buttons. I quickly learned that old photo frame + foamcore + canvas = AWESOME Button Board!

I just covered a piece of foamcore with canvas. Then I used the canvas covered foamcore to replace the glass in a crappy old frame. I just bent the pin on the back of the buttons to a 90 degree angle and stuck it in.

Okay... on to the fun with fabric. Please see this post first, if you are not familiar with fabric buttons.

I went to Pacific Fabric Outlet and bought a bunch of fat quarters, which are basically just small squares of fabric. On Friday it's buy three get one free :) So I picked up a bunch of cute prints and I got out 5 different button machines to make this board. I used 1, 1-1/2, 2-1/4, 3 and 3-1/2 inch machines. If these sizes seem familiar it's because those are the sizes that are preset on the Adjustable Rotary Cutter, which I have decided is the ONLY WAY TO CUT CIRCLES FOR MAKING FABRIC BUTTONS. Alright, it's not the only way, you could use scissors also (I do not recommend the graphic punch, see this post if you're thinking about trying it.)

I started noticing this time that the more perfect my circles were, the better my buttons turned out. When my fabric circles were a little off, I had a much higher failure rate and more escaped edges (keep reading for a description of escaped edges).

For all of the fabric pictured here, fuzzy leopard print excluded, I had to use 2 layers of fabric to get the buttons to crimp properly. The fuzzy leopard print was thick enough to work flawlessly every time. I had about a 10% failure rate with all the other fabrics, even with the multiple layers. By failure, I mean that the fabric didn't crimp at all or tore in the machine.

A lot of the times with the double layer standard cotton fabrics, I had small area of fabric that was pinched in between the shell and the backing, but folded backwards, and didn't crimp all the way under the backing. I refer to this problem as escaped edges. I did not consider buttons with escaped edges as failures. I just trimmed them down and called it good. It's such a tiny little piece that is hardly noticeable at all on the back of the button. If escaped edges is a big problem for you, I would recommend having your machine adjusted for fabric. Sometimes if you cut the escaped edge too close to the button, it becomes un-pinched and therefore ruins the button. So be careful when trimming escaped edges!


I pressed out 58 buttons in all, had 5 that were completely unusable, 12 with escaped edges that I trimmed off and used anyway, and 41 totally perfect fabric buttons. I noticed that my model 225 had a better success rate than my other machines. It didn't seem to matter if I used a fabric or a paper base layer. It really depends on the fabric you're using and how smooth the inside of the dies on your particular machine are. Sometimes, like with the fuzzy leopard print, you just find the magical combination and it works every time. Other times, like with the cotton pink skull fabric, it just doesn't work as consistently and you have to keep trying.

Good luck with your projects and please feel free to comment here with any advice or new ideas!

Fabric Mirrors

Yay for Fabric Mirrors!!!
Double Yay for Fabric Mirror Tutorials!!!!

If you're not familiar with making fabric buttons please see this post and this post before proceeding.

These are really fun! In this tutorial I'm using a lace shirt with sequins. So it's extra-pretty! Since it's lace you can see the metal shell underneath which gives it shine and an extra layer of pretty! Did I mention I love these???






1. First get everything you need together. That includes:

• A model 225, 300, or 350 Button Machine
• An Adjustable Rotary Cutter
• Complete Mirror Sets for 2-1/4, 3, or 3-1/2 inch
• Fabric
  

2. Set the rotary cutter to the appropriate size. Lucky for mirror makers the cutter has preset stops for 2-1/4, 3 and 3-1/2 inch circles. My fabric pattern doesn't require centering, so for this, I'm not using the centering template that comes with the cutter. To adjust thee cutter to 3 inches, you loosen the screw at the top and push the silver bar over one click in from the widest size. Go here for more information on using the rotary cutter.









3. Put the metal cutting plate under the fabric and stretch the fabric taunt. If there are a wrinkles it'll cause some hiccups in the cutting. Place the rotary cutter on the fabric with the metal plate underneath, push he handle down and rotate it around and around.
When you're cutting fabric you can kinda hear it when it's cut all the way through. It sounds like a crunchy sound as it's going through the fabric, then it sounds smooth when it's all the way through. You may have to go back and forth in opposing directions to make a good cut.



4. Insert the shell into the pick-up die (the one with the deep groove) and center the fabric on top of the shell.









5. Rotate the die table around so the pick-up die is under the upper die and the crimp die is facing you. Insert the collet sharp side up.










6. Insert the mirror reflective side down, in the center of the collet.









7. Bend the shim just enough so it's as tall as it can possibly (about 1/2 inch depending on the machine) be without being bumped out of place by the upper die.









8. Place the shim on the back of the mirror, so it is as centered as possible. Rotate the die table back and forth and make sure that the shim doesn't get bumped out of place when it goes under the upper die. It's important that it's perfectly center or your mirror won't crimp properly.









9. Rotate the die table so that the pick-up die (with the shell and fabric in it) are under the upper die. Pull the handle toward you. Then rotate the die table around so that the mirror and shim is under the upper die (make sure that the shim didn't move) and pull the handle down again.










That's it! just remove the mirror from the machine and marvel at how awesome you are!!

Fabric Adjustment

Important Information about Fabric Buttons:
To get a guarantee that your machine will work with fabric, you'll need to order the Fabric Adjustment with your machine and mail in a sample of the fabric you wish to use. If you do not do this there's no "guarantee" that it will work.

However, from personal experience, I'm pretty confident that most of our machines will do just fine. I've made fabric buttons on all 8 of our display machines and haven't encountered a problem I couldn't work through yet.

So - if you're crafty and into experimenting, I'd say just get a machine and go for it. If you run into problems, try some of these techniques:

• Use thicker fabric
• Add a couple more layers of fabric
• Add a layer of paper under the fabric
• Put mylar on top of the fabric

On the other hand - if you're going into business doing monogram buttons or something and need to make 1,000 fabric buttons in 2 days, you should go ahead and get the fabric adjustment.

You can get the fabric adjustment done to a machine you already own, but you'll also have to pay to ship it both ways so that can be pricey.

See this post for more fabric button info and a tutorial.

fabric butons

Fabric Buttons !!!

All of the button machines from button makers .net can be adjusted to make buttons from fabric as well as paper! I've tried this with all sorts of different fabric and have had the best luck with thicker, less stretchy fabrics such as canvas.


If you want to use thinner fabric, you'll need to add a couple layers to add thickness. You might think about using a layer of canvas with something very thin on the top. Otherwise the fabric will tear in the machine. You can also use thin fabric with mylar on top. That works really well. But I think it sort of defeats the purpose of using fabric. I like the texture most. I worked with one customer who makes the cutest mirrors using nifty printed fabrics. She chose to use mylar on top because it protects the fabric from getting dirty. For her project it was all about the print, and not so much about the texture.

Making fabric buttons with mylar is easy. It's just like making buttons with paper. It's the fabric buttons without mylar that give people the most trouble. So for this tutorial we're casting off the mylar and doing fabric only!!




For this project I'm making multiple size buttons with red canvas. I have a skirt that is missing buttons, so I'm going to replace those with pin-back fabric ones. Then for fun, I'll be making some big ones for decorations.

First we have to tackle circle cutting. There are many ways to go about this. The least expensive and most time consuming method is of course cutting by hand with a pair of scissors. This is a totally fine way to go, except if your cuts aren't exactly perfect circles, you'll have a lot of excess fabric to trim off the finished button. Which, actually, you'll have some excess fabric to trim no matter what.

The next option is the Graphic Punch, which is what many people start out with and already have for paper buttons. This is really not a good option for fabric though. It's really hard to get the fabric through the plates (though I try with all my might as you will see below) and then the cuts aren't great. It's not easy to use with fabric.

My personal favorite choice for cutting fabric is the Adjustable Rotary Cutter. It was super easy with the canvas, but with more delicate fabrics, you might have to spray a little adhesive down to your work station to prevent the fabric from moving and bunching. Or you may have to resort back to hand cutting. But again, the canvas was problem free with the rotary cutter.

So, now that you've decided which method you will use for cutting circles, it's time to get all of your supplies together.

Pictured here I have everything I'll need to make 1 inch fabric buttons, including the skirt that I'll attach them to.

• A model 100 Button Maker
• A model 1313 Graphic Punch
• 1 inch button sets
• Red Canvas
• Scissors
• Cuticle Scissors or Toenail Clippers (which actually work better than Cuticle Scissors) for cutting the excess fabric from the finished button
• Packing Tape
• A Skirt in need of new buttons

1. In order to actually get this piece of canvas through the plates of the graphic punch, I'm applying a strip of tape to the end. That will fit through the plates and allow me to pull the canvas through without it getting all bunched up.

I actually had a hard time with this. I was able to do it ok with the model 1313, but as you will see later, I gave up and switched to the rotary cutter for the larger sizes. This method would probably work fine with thinner fabric.

So I basically made a tail of tape. I applied a layer of tape to both sides, made it as flat and bubble free as possible, and cut off any exposed stickiness.

The fabric now has a tail of tape that will fit through the punch and allow you to pull it through and cut circles.


2. Cut out all of your circles and remove any tape left on the cut circles. I found it easiest to take a blade from an olfa or similar knife and pry the tape up. Fingernails probably work too : )





3. Next, press your button. Load the shell (smooth side up) into the take up die (the one on springs) and place your fabric on top of it. If you're using mylar place the mylar on top of the fabric. We're not using mylar in this example.

Press your button like normal. Click here for basic button making instructions.


4. Next we need to cut off the excess fabric. Sometimes, if your circles are really perfect, and you're really lucky, you won't even have any excess fabric to cut off. But usually you will and in that case, toenail clippers work really well. They're curved so they hug the contours of the button amazingly well. I couldn't find mine, so I'm using cuticle scissors instead.

5. Finally, insert the lock pin into the back of the button. Now we're ready to attach it to our skirt!!

But first, I'm going to make some 2-1/4 and 3-1/2 inch buttons for added decoration.





For the 3-1/2 inch buttons, I tried and tried and tried to use the tape method to get fabric through the the model 4000 graphic punch. But it just didn't work. The fabric was too thick to fit in between the cutting plates. So, I switched to the adjustable rotary cutter. It worked way better.

Next load all the materials into the machine and press the button as usual. Then cut off the excess fabric.








Now it's time to decorate the skirt! First I replaced the missing buttons with my 1 inch fabric buttons. I had to enlarge the button holes a little bit too.

Then I added the 2-1/4 inch buttons to the faux pockets and lined the hem with 3-1/2 inch buttons for a whimsical fun fabric button skirt! Then I made little matching cuffs from sweat bands and 1 inch buttons.

I reused some of the buttons from this skirt and put them on the vintage dress pictured at the beginning of this tutorial. Functional fabric buttons are great if for no other reason then you can swap and replace them to fit any style!!