http://www.lacis.com/catalog/data/n_general.html#RQ25
Here are some great books for towel topper patterns
I love buttons. Don’t you?
I’m not, however, a huge fan of those balled up crochet buttons
that seem to appear with alarming regularity on garment, especially baby, patterns (unlike the antique beauty pictured here). They start off looking pretty nice, but they don’t wear well, suffering from even gentle hand washing.
I have a rather large collection of buttons – most from thrift store bags of buttons and cut off cast off garments. I’m not a ‘collector’ of buttons, a person who pays attention to the age and value of antique buttons. That’s a great hobby, but not for me. I know that buttons CAN make an outfit, though. From my days sewing and now with crochet, I know the RIGHT button can set off a simple design and make it special.
http://www.buttonsfromindia.com/button.html (OK, just check out this site and plan to spend about a week browsing all the products – not just buttons. I’ve never ordered from them, but…….)
For gifts this year, I’ve been making a lot of towel toppers. Each one requires at least one button. I don’t do the kind that need to be tied on AND I don’t like hooks and eyes. No Way! I LIKE buttons. My color palette this Christmas season has been the Victorian muted colors of wine, forest green, and ecru. These colors go well with the plush hand towels I bought from Bed, Bath, & Beyond to top with crochet. I purchased a set of print towels – simple Christmas designs in the muted tones on ecru hand towels. Then, I purchased a bunch of solid color towels in forest green and wine. They are lovely.
To top most of them, I had no good buttons in my collection – and I want these to be easy to launder, so plastic buttons seemed in order. I took my yarn and my coupon to Michael’s and found a great bag of Christmas themed plastic buttons for about $4. There are at least 50 buttons in this bag. I haven’t counted them. They include things like snowflakes, a reindeer head with antlers, Christmas tree light bulbs, and lots of simpler round and other shaped buttons in the wines and greens to match my yarn – something like these:
Then, when I was at Walmart for something else – I seldom bother to check their craft/yarn section since the downsizing – I browsed the clearance aisles. There was one card of ‘Creative Buttons’ by LoRan made by Dritz. These are clear circular plastic buttons that have a shank and two rows of concentric holes similar to needlepoint fabric. Clear as mud, right? Well, look at the picture above or click on the link below it for a better look. Anyway, the idea is that you use your yarn or ribbon (or likely whatever you want) to weave through these holes to make buttons to match your crocheted (or sewn or knitted or woven) project. Such potential!
Downside – 10 of them cost $4.50 (at lacis.com) and $2.88 at Walmart regular price.
Upside – I got the last card at Walmart for a mere 75 cents!
Now, I can do a lot with 10 buttons. That’s two cardigans. Five baby sweaters. Ten towel toppers. The applications are plentiful – and limited only to my feeble imagination.
So, check out your local fabric or craft store or department and see if you can find these things. I can’t wait to play with them.
Come back soon (I hope by Saturday) to see how I make my towel toppers. I’m not a fan of those thin dime store hand or dish towels. Mine are far nicer and don’t cost much, (if any), more .
The towel topper below is NOT one of mine – but similar in design. There are plenty of free patterns for them online. Just google to see the possibilities – and combine those designs with the hints and ideas I’ll give you next time. Why? Because I like mine best! Hope you will too.
www.craftown.com
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