Another Button Project - Huge Scale!
by
Mary Ann Goldberg
(IC: homeowner)
4 Materials
My future husband was in another state, and I needed something to keep busy. I had made my wedding bouquet, cake topper and boutonnieres out of buttons and jewelry. I needed another project to keep busy and I came up with this idea. I would make a landscape utilizing a window screen! The screen is 55" long x 2' high, and is separated into 3 sections. The original screening was not in very good shape, so I stretched a new piece over the frame for sewing on the buttons.
Being from a Wisconsin farm, I had a nostalgic vision of this being a country scene, so it came together one section at a time. I set up an area of the LR, using tables to make a "U" shape. I did not have the metal storage drawers yet, so I had containers of buttons all over the place. I laid the screen on the tables and it became the bottom of the "U" shape. This way I could work from both the top and bottom of the project.
I had a lot of buttons, but not nearly enough. I won some lots on Ebay. When they came I had to clean and wash all the buttons, which took a long time. Then they had to dry, and I would keep flipping them to get all the sides dried off. I even tried to clean them in the washer, but that didn't work so good. The lingerie bags couldn't hold up to the weight of them.
Panel 3 - Farmhouse
Because of the sky and trees in the project taking up a lot of the space, I ended up hand-painting white ones and turning them blue or green to save on expenses. Next time I will dye them! I have the dyes already.
Here are pics in more detail. There's even a rope swing on this tree! The leaves here turned out an exciting way - without trying, the way they were sewn on make them look textured.
This shows the detail on the house. It includes my "Key To My Heart" motif as a door ornament. If you look closely, you can see I used Swarovski Crystals scattered throughout the panels to add an element of surprise and sparkle!
I used a sealant to finish off the buttons. This was to seal the threads and keep the buttons in place. I then used a Styrofoam backing to protect the buttons.
Almost finished! The final step was to cover the back with felt, for more protection.
It's done! The project took over 5 months!
Enjoyed the project?
Suggested materials:
- Buttons - Thousands of Them
- Window Screen
- Jewelry
- Thread and Needles
Published May 4th, 2016 2:31 PM
Comments
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5 of 165 comments
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Stephanie Raimondi on May 24, 2017
love it. I collect buttons and have thousands of them, might try something like this but on a much smaller scale.
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Mary Ann Goldberg on May 30, 2017Go for it, Stephanie! There's all shapes and sizes of window or picture frames out there waiting for you. I'm starting my next one in the next couple weeks, when it gets too hot outside to be out doors.
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Ginger the farm gal on Nov 04, 2017
Enjoy all your projects, but this one "takes the cake" Wonderfully creative, better than a jigsaw puzzle :>)
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Mary Ann Goldberg on Nov 04, 2017thank you, Ginger. This was a labor of love. I actually started another but it won't be done until Spring, I'm thinking.
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Ginger the farm gal on Nov 08, 2017Sounds like you have the winter time all buttoned up LOL
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