How to make Button Flowers…

 

How to make Button Flowers…

 

In the summer of 2012, I was on my annual road trip from Pennsylvania through Illinois where I visited my cousin, Linda, before heading to Minneapolis to spend a week or so with my youngest son Brian.  My husband had passed away in 2011 and I had finally sold my summer home in Maryland.  I began making road trips with friends and to visit my sons, either by driving (Brian) or flying (Rob and his wife, Kate).  The 2012 summer trip was a delightful adventure where Brian entertained me which included a trip to Turtle Lake, WI to visit Tom and Mary Stark.  Mary is a quilter/crafter, so we had a lot in common.  It was on that trip that she taught me to make button flowers.

These are button flowers.  They are beautiful, quirky little decorations that are made with old or new buttons and floral wire using a drill.
 
WARNING:  Learning how to make button flowers can be very addictive.  Before you know it, you will have button flowers on your dressers, the backs of your toilets, windowsills, nightstands, tops of bookcases, and any other places that just need a little something.  When you are invited to a friend’s house or a neighbor’s backyard party, you will come armed with a food dish, a bottle of wine, and a little vase of button flowers.  To help validate your obsession you will teach your crafty friends, your quilt guild, or your girl scouts how to make them and they will become addicted.  From just one or two of those that you teach, the Button Flowers will continue their journey until they are all throughout the country, maybe even around the world.
 
Recently I saw a Facebook post that showed one of the quilters in a group that I follow with a LARGE number of buttons spread out in a LARGE container asking the question: “Do you think I can find 8 green buttons that match?”  Many folks weighed in with comments, but I said that I would make button flowers out of them.  I just needed to get my drill and floral wire,  Surprisingly, one member of the group was actually one of the ladies I had taught how to make the Button Flowers and she said that she still had her Button Flowers.  Another member asked if I could show her a picture as she was curious.  I took a picture which I shared, and she asked if I could tell her how to make them.  So, I am writing these instructions with pictures so another generation of Button Flower makers can become addicted.

Button Flower Tutorial

 

Button Flowers are exactly as they sound, delightful little flowers that are made from buttons.  They are unique, delicate, and very simple to make.  But this is a warning, making Button Flowers can be very addictive.

 

These are the materials that you will need to make button flowers:

The first and primary items you will need are buttons.

A collection of old, regular buttons…  most households have a box of buttons.  You can also find them online, on eBay, or Etsy, etc.

You can also get newer buttons.  Walmart, Joann Fabric, and Michaels would be a great source of these newer buttons.

You will need 22 Gauge floral wire.  Do not use anything lighter.  It needs to be easy enough to twist and yet give the flowers the ability to stand up on the stem that you will make with the wire.  Much heavier and the stem will not have a gentle bounce that makes the buttons move more like flowers.

You will need a drill, either corded or cordless.  You will also need a small pair of wire cutters.

You will need small containers or vases to display your Button Flowers.  The stems are very thin.  The secret to displaying the Button Flowers is the opening of the vase.  It either needs to be a very narrow neck or have a device to hold the stems in place.  A wide opening will not allow the flower stems to stand upright.  In the sample above there are two vases with narrow openings.  There are two fake lightbulbs with a single hole in the top for one nice Button Flower.  Salt and pepper shakers have holes for the stems to go through without falling over.  The purple container has a wire covering that creates little squares.  Not ideal, but it will work.  Just become aware of the fun places that you go, like Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Joann Fabrics, antique malls, yard sales, second-hand shops, or any other place that you can find little decorative objects that might just be the perfect container for your Button Flowers.  It will become part of the obsession.

You should also look for something to put in the bottom of the containers.  The height of your Button Flowers may cause your container to fall over.  Marbles, tiny stone nuggets, or glass pebbles work very well to keep your container from falling over and keep your flowers in place.  Again, Walmart, Joann Fabrics, Michaels, etc. are the best place to find these items.

So, let’s start making some Button Flowers…

Step 1:

Sort through your buttons.  Pull out big ones, then medium ones than small ones.  You are going to layer your buttons to make the flowers.  Colors are up to you.  They can each be different colors, a variety of one color family, or all of them exactly the same, just different sizes.  All of these flowers should be the kind of buttons with holes in them.  The minimum number of holes will be two, but four holes will be fine, you just need to have one hole for each of two wires that will make up the stem. You can also use one shank type button in your flower.  BUT, it has to be the smallest button or the top button, or the first button used in your flower.  I have used one like the little white button in the picture above.  I have also found a ladybug shank button or a butterfly shank button to decorate the top of the Button Flower.  I have also used sparkly, jeweled-like shank buttons to add bling.  You can do whatever you like, these are your creations, so try them all.  It is part of the addiction, trying all of the many options to create a beautiful button bloom.

 

Step 2:

Take the 22 Gauge wire and unwind a piece that is about 2 to 3 times longer than the container that you are going to put them in.

Gently fold the wire in half, leaving a loop at the fold.  This fold will be where the buttons are layered to make the flower.

Step 3:

Begin to string the selected buttons onto the folded wire.  Begin with the smallest first, then the next size up, then a bigger one, until you have all of the buttons for this flower on the wires.  If you have a 4 hole button the wire should be going through the holes that are across from each other so the button will center up in the wire… unless you want the button off-center, then do it your way.  It is part of the fun.

Push the buttons up until they are tight against the top of the wire.

This is what the wire will look at in a button with holes.  If you use a shank button, get the second button up as tightly as you can against the shank.  It will hold that button in place.

Step 4:

Holding the buttons tightly in one hand and the wires in the other, gently twist the wire directly under the buttons to hold them in place.

Then fold to open ends of the two wires to make a small loop.  This will give an area for the drill to grab for making the twisted stem.

Step 5:

If you have never used a drill, have someone that you know help you learn.  The protruding cone/clamp is seen here grasping the end loops of the wires.  That little cone/clamp opens and closes using the plastic ring just behind the metal cone/clasp.  Open the little cone/clasp enough so you can insert the wires into the come/clasp and then turn the ring in the opposite direction to tighten the cone/clasp on the wires.  Make sure that the loop is secure.  You will be pulling on the button end in the next step and the looped ends will need to remain in the drill cone/clamp end.

 

Step 6:

Grab the buttons firmly between two fingers.

Pull the wires as tightly with one hand as you hold the drill in your other hand.  Turn the drill on, slowly at first.  If you are lucky, you twisted the wire by the buttons in the right direction.  If not, those twists will untwist which is why it is important to hold the buttons tightly.  Keep the drill running until the wire stem becomes a single twisted piece of metal.

Do not twist it too quickly or too tightly or you will snap the wire off just below the buttons or break in the middle.  Take your time at first until you get the feel of the drill and how much of a twist that you need in the wire.  The tighter the twist, the stiffer the stem will be.

Step 7:

Open the cone/clasp back up and remove the folded end.  You can see how the wire has twisted down to where the fold in the wire begins.

Clip off the folded end of the Button Flower.

Step 8:

Now take a look at the finished stem and Button Flower.  If you are just making a whole bunch of miscellaneous flowers, this is where you would stop.  When you finally are ready to put it into a vase, you will determine the length that you want to cut the flower in order for it to work in the vase or container.  I usually put odd numbers of the flowers in a vase, so either 3 or 5 or 7.  Cut them to different lengths to make the decoration have balance and interest.

I put this Button Flower in the one tall vase that I had on the table.  I think it is too tall, but in the right vase, it would be perfect.  You can add other decorations to the flowers, perhaps leaves or ribbons. to glitter or crystals. or whatever your heart desires.

 

If you have any questions, please email me at jrudewick@gmail.com

Happy Thanksgiving...

 As I write this, Thanksgiving has already begun in much of the lower 48, but I still have a few hours before it begins here.  I have a turkey waiting to be roasted, potatoes to be mashed, dressing to be baked, table to be set... other than that, I am ready.  

I made a blue cheese ball that is a tradition in my family.  A couple of bricks of cream cheese, some finely chopped veggies and a little salt, and a pound of blue cheese.  It is mixed and the favors are melding together in the fridge so it will be perfect tomorrow.  I am sure we will not eat it all tomorrow, which will give me some creamy, yummy snacks for the next several days.  And if worse comes to worst, I will spread it on a hamburger... gourmet burger!

I have been watching the news more recently than I have for many years.  I will be stopping that shortly.  I do not see anything good on the news.  Between the election stuff and COVID-19, and the struggling economy, it is just an ugly world that we seem to live in these days.  But by the same token, looking at what is happening to others in this country and around the world, I have come to appreciate my blessings... and there is no doubt that God has blessed me in so many ways.

Last year at this time I was exhausted but I had finished the task of unboxing all of my kitchen stuff so that I could have Thanksgiving dinner with my oldest son, Rob, and his lovely wife, Kate.  I had downsized much of my "stuff, packed the rest of it on a truck, and moved across the country from southeast PA to the middle of Alaska.

I have settled into a really beautiful house that is now my home.  I have learned to deal with long, dark winters, very frigid, and long, light-filled cool, comfortable summers.  I made a few friends before quarantine began.  I had stayed quietly inside, enjoying my new home before Rob and Kate coming to visit after a couple of months of just phone calls.  I am healthy, so far.  I have learned how to shop without even going into the stores.  I have learned how to drive in snow and how to drive with blinding sunshine in my face.  I have everything and anything that I could ever want.

I look at the long lines of people who are trying to get food for themselves and their families.  I do not want for food.  I have seen the ever-increasing numbers of COVID cases and increasing numbers of deaths.  I remain healthy.  I see the number of people that are unemployed increase and hear stories of people becoming homeless or unable to clothe or feed their kids.  I am warm and well dressed, be it sweat pants and sweaters.

My youngest son, Brian found a job after a year and a half without... and it is one that he is liking and they seem to like him, so win/win.  My youngest nephew got married in September to his girlfriend of 10 years.  I had to miss it because of the pandemic, but I got to see the pictures, and they look very happy.  I have heard from many of my friends from the lower 48 and they all seem to be doing well, blessings for all of us.  I am currently smelling baked cinnamon cranberry bread.  It is going to taste so good in the morning.

Rob and Kate will be with me tomorrow.  I am so grateful for all they have done to make me feel at home in my new location.  We will be talking to Brian who is either at home or visiting his father ... if he got up the courage to fly.  I will try to talk to my brother, Andy, tomorrow as well.

I am grateful for all of the blessings that I have been given.  I give thanks to God for allowing me this life I have been able to live so I can enjoy these blessings. And I am thankful for all of my friends, new ones, and the steadfast ones I have made throughout the years.  

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.  May this day give you a chance to remember all of the good things large and small that are in your life, and may you find blessings that you do not even know are there so you can rejoice in your own blessings.  And I pray that next year there will be large family gathering for a Thanksgiving to beat all Thanksgivings.

Making your own Christmas Gnome...

The beginning of my Christmas Gnome Army!!!

This year, even though they have been around for years, I finally noticed the Christmas Gnomes.  I think they are so cute and add some lightheartedness to the holiday decorations.  Since my kids are not little and I missed out on the 'Elf on the Shelf' stuff, I am going to be adding Christmas Gnomes to my Pointsetta decor that I usually put up.

I bought a set of three little gnomes with legs that draped over the shelf where they are sitting.  I really like them and started looking for bigger gnomes.  My cousin, Linda, lives in Lake Villa, IL.  Her favorite coffee shop is selling Christmas Gnomes and I had asked her to scope them out for me.  I was going to have Linda buy one or two and ship them to me, helping to support that small, local business.

They were cute, but not in the colors that I was looking for and a bit more expensive than I wanted to pay.  So I thanked Linda and began looking for YouTube videos to see how hard it would be to make them myself.  It turns out, that with some socks, fill, and faux fur along with the trusty glue gun, you can easily make your very own Christmas Gnomes.

I have made a couple of Gnomes and during that process of making my first gnomes, I took pictures of the step by step creation of my little gnome army.  I will share those steps so that you might go out, get the materials, and make one or two on your own.

In my previous blog, I listed all of the materials you will need for your gnomes.  Gather the items together and let's get started.

The first step is making the body.  Take the white tube sock and cut it off between 8" and 9" from the toe of the sock.  I laid it out on my cutting table, measured and used scissors to make the cut.

The tube socks I bought are over-the-calf tube socks.  If I were to turn the top of the sock inside-out and stitch across the cut-off bottom edge, I would have more than enough sock left to make another gnome.  You can also get shorter socks and make your little guy smaller.  It is up to you.  And if you have a nice, sharp 60mm rotary cutter, you can use it to cut the sock for the body rather than the scissors.

Now we will fill the sock to make the body.  I am using the weighted Poly-Pellets, but you can use whatever filler you would like to use.  Dry rice and beans that have been frozen for a week to kill the eggs/bugs that might grow will work just fine.  I emptied out a shoebox plastic tub, placed the pellet bag inside the tub so I can keep spillage under control and not on my floor.  I have placed the sock inside a red solo cup and opened the sock over the top.  This helped get the initial pellets into the sock.

The sock is filled to the brim with the weighted pellets.

Take the sock out of the cup and use the cup to add more pellets to the sock.  Hold the sock up and tap it on the table to help it compress the pellets to the toe of the sock.  I also used the small end of the cup to tamp it down.  The sock is going to expand, just like it would on your foot, so you can add more pellets.  I found that the amount of pellets that I needed was around 2 solo cups, give or take some extra.  You need to have the ability to have enough sock material to close it at the top and twist a rubber band around the opening to close it up.  This should be followed by some string or twine, tightly tied to make sure the topknot does not come opened.

You now have the body for your gnome.  It is hard to tell in this picture, but the gnome is just a little bigger than my hand, from the tip of the middle finger to my wrist.  If you hold the body between both hands, it should fill your hands.  But you can make your gnome smaller or larger by increasing or decreasing the size of the cut on your sock.

Now you need to create the nose for your gnome.  It sounds easy, but I found this to be the hardest part.  You decide where on the body you want the nose to be.  It should be more towards the top than the middle.  You grab the area where you want the nose and dig into the fill.  The hard part is getting it to maintain the nose shape and not have the fill go back into the body.  Once you get the nose separated, wrap it with a rubber band and then immediately wrap it tightly with the twine.  It may take a couple of times to get the size nose that you want, but just keep trying.

This is a closeup of the finished nose.  The areas that look gray are just the shadow of my camera trying to get the picture.

Now you can add a little color to your gnome's nose.  I am guessing you could use a little bit of craft paint, but I think it might make the nose too prominent.  The videos I used for my gnomes just used powder blush or highlighter.  It gives just a nice pinkish glow, like a nose out in the cold.  I brush it on.  I try to make it a little darker than I want it to look because the remaining creative process will have some of the powder falling off.

This is a side view of my first body.  When I was done, I noticed that the topknot had been pulled forward.  This is not ideal, so when you are making the nose, be aware of where the topknot is located.  I was OK with this one, as the cap was going to easily cover it.  The alternative hat that you will see at the end, this would not have worked.

Also, notice the twine around the waist. This can be done at this stage or after the body is covered.  The purpose of this string is to keep all of the pellets inside the body from settling into the bottom of the body.  If you forget to do it early, you can use the twine and then cover it with a ribbon to trim.  You can add trim on the waist regardless.

Now it is time to dress/decorate your gnome.  This is where those cute, soft, fuzzy socks that seem to appear during the holidays come into play.  I found some Christmas socks on Amazon that then turned up on Facebook Marketplace for $5.00 less and I could go pick them up rather than waiting for delivery.  You cut them off across the heel and use the toe area... in this instance, to cover the bottom of your gnome.

Here is the toe end on the bottom of the gnome.  Making a male gnome will pretty much cover this in the front, but it will be visible from the side and back.  If there is a little part of the heel still attached, put that at the back.  Bring the front covering all the way up to the nose.

This is where you can see the heel edge at the back of the gnome.  The hat will come down and cover the majority of the top of the bottom cover.

Take your glue gun and tack the top of the body cover to the sock body.  Just be careful to not burn your fingers when pressing the cover onto the body.  After one or two burns, I started using some small scissors to press the cover into the glue.

Now it is time for the beard.  I am using a longer, faux fur that also has silver threads through the white fur.  Having a yard of this faux fur that is 58" wide makes the material a bit unyielding.   But I started on a corner and measured out a 4 1/2" by 4 1/2" square.  Then carefully run some sharp scissors all along the fabric backing so that you are only cutting the backing and NOT cutting the fur.  You can feel it as you run the scissors all along the material.  This allows the fur length to remain long beyond the cut edge of the backing.  This makes your beard just show the fur on the front.

This is the finished cut beard.  You will round off the bottom corners.  I free-handed this one, on the next one I used a round spool of ribbon to make a better curve.  The notch at the top is where the nose sits.  For this one, you will need to test fit and make the notch to accommodate the size of your nose.  The notch should sit under the nose so the edge cannot be seen and you pull the corners up into the head area.  It will be covered by the cap but it makes the beard bow out a little and look fuller in the final product.  Run a bead of glue all along the top of the beard material and place it so the notch is tucked away under the nose and the straight edge goes up into the head area.

This is the gnome with his beard attached.  This one has enough faux fur that can be twisted into a mustache.  He is now ready for a cap.

This is a closeup of the beard in place on the gnome.  The notch is invisible under the nose and the beard has some shape to it.

Now take the sock that you are going to use for the knit cap and cut it across the heel, just like the body covering.

I am putting a little top ball in my hat.  I took a small wad of polyfill to plump it out and make a ball.  I tucked it up into the toe and make the size ball that you want.  Use a rubber band to hold the fill in place.  You will add some ribbon later in the process to secure the rubber band.

Here is the finished ball.  I used the green toe to define the top.  It ended up being a bit bigger than I wanted, but for the first time, it was fine.

Now you will take a bigger wad of filler to put into the bottom of the cap.  This gives the cap some structure.

The hat is in place.  To make the main part of the hat look right with the top ball, there was not enough left to make a band.  I will either need to make the top ball and the cap base smaller or cut the sock longer.  This is what you learn as you go.

This is the cap glued in place.  I made sure that it was pulled all the way down to the nose in the front.  It is also is tugged down evenly and covering the top of the body covering.  Just keep tacking it down until it is secure.

Here is the finished first gnome.  I added a red jingle bell to the top of the hat.  I used a ribbon to add the bell and then tied a double bow to secure the knot so it does not come undone.  Isn't he cute?

If you want to make a female gnome, instead of a beard, get some yarn in hair colors and create a pair of braids.  Before putting on the cap, place the braids from a place under where the hat will go and down the front of the gnome.  You will be able to see the sock body covering.  Decorate the cover with buttons, bows, or whatever you need to dress up your lady gnome.  A scarf matching the hat would be adorable.

I made another gnome before the end of the day.  I used only 2 full solo cups of pellets in the body.  I still struggled with the nose, but I did manage to get the topknot more at the top of the body.  The beard was 5 1/2" wide and 4" long.  I like it a bit better but the fuller beard does not make a mustache at all.  I used a 5"+ styrofoam cone to make this hat stand up tall and instead of cutting the sock for the hat, I used the entire sock.  I took the scissors and gouged a hole in the center of the cone so the topknot of the body would fit inside.  I also shaved off the back of the bottom of the cone so it sits on the body a little askew to the back of the gnome.  Then glue the cone to the head with the topknot inside the hole in the cone.  I pulled the sock over the cone, keeping the sock's heel toward the back.  I was able to roll a cuff on the hat.  Tacked the hat down with glue and another gnome in my little army.

Here is my turquoise gnome from his right side.

Here is the turquoise gnome from the back.

Here is the turquoise gnome from the left side.  As I get the rest of my gnomes done, I will look into doing a little more decorating.  Buttons, sequins, bells, Christmas balls, or anything else will add to the festive look they are adding to my Christmas.

Now... go make your own gnomes!!!