Button, Button, Whose got the Button?

[StephanieGrace]

I am still very new to tatting, but I got a big start by doing this pattern several times: http://birgitstatting.blogspot.com/search/label/cross

So, having done that a few times and having tried Ms. Jane Eborall's button flower (My attempt is my photo in my profile), I am wondering if anyone else has a link to or a pattern that uses a button (or more than just "a button"). I just got a whole bunch of buttons in the mail and I'd really like to use them in my tatting since that's why I got them. LOL.

I thought that they'd all be for crosses, but I want to do a bunch of bookmarks and can't really figure out how to turn the above pattern into a bookmark short of stiffening the cross and attaching it to something else, like cardstock (which I don't have. LOL).

Enough rambling... Bring on some button patterns! :w00t: :wink:

:heart:,
Stephanie Grace
http://stephaniegracetats.blogspot.com

[xstchntat]

I haven't done tatting with buttons yet. Looks interesting though and I hope you find what you are looking for.

[StephanieGrace]

Wow... LOL. I wasn't expecting that as a response... It's not bad, I like that it adds an extra "something" to a project that might otherwise be a bit plain. It also helps me maintain the same tension... I think it's a great think for a beginner to learn, I think... I'm waiting to find patterns and get better so I can use the really pretty buttons as an added visual element. (I don't want to use the prettiest buttons; then I won't have them when I master this tatting stuff and need a decorative element for something. LOL.

You should try it! Especially the flower! (Here's the link for that one: http://janeeborall.blogspot.com/2010/05/earwigs.html).

I'm really amazed by how much the button can add (in cases such as the cross) or add stability and a nice base for something (like the flower). :-)

:heart:,
Stephanie Grace
http://stephaniegracetats.blogspot.com

[shannon_in_love]

BAM! i love this pattern
http://www.frontiernet.net/~tammyrodgers/abby-s_heart.html (http://www.frontiernet.net/%7Etammyrodgers/abby-s_heart.html)

[StephanieGrace]

Thank you so much, Shannon!!! I love it!!! I'll be trying that one for sure! (Tomorrow, I hope!). THANK YOU!!!!

:heart:,
Stephanie Grace

[shannon_in_love]

no problem...so yeah. its really easy and the finished product is beautiful.

[carolivy]

That is a great pattern! Thanks for the link. I have several patterns for tatted bookmarks with buttons. I'll see if I can track down the links for you tomorrow. They make really nice bookmarks.

[StephanieGrace]

Thank you so much, Carolivy!!! :-* I'm so happy that I'm not alone with this button-thing! LOL. Buttons and tatting just look so wonderful together --most of the time. LOL.

:heart:,
Stephanie Grace

[Lynn]

I'm afraid I can't help with the button, as I tend to avoid anything in my tatting except thread. I barely use beads, and only for something that is going to hang on a Christmas tree. But I do have a suggestion for your button cross pattern. If you want to use it as a bookmark, you can tat it without the button. Just tat the same pattern, but leave the button out. The chains should give it enough shape that you don't need anything in the center. Or you could make a long picot at the same place where you attach the button, then attach the following three picots to that one. Does that make sense? This will give you a center. The first long picot will have to be long enough to reach to the very center of the button that you're not using. Hey, just had another thought too. You could tat three or four very long picots in the very center of your chain (replacing three or four DSs there) and weave them. Now that's a center for you.

[StephanieGrace]

Thank you, Lynn! Since it's not my pattern and I'm not all that used to it yet, I'm a bit weary about varying away from it. I did, however, tat a small medallion a week or two ago that was meant for something bigger, but I made a boo-boo, so I added a chain and closed it off. I told my mom that I think I might like it in place of a button in that pattern and I just might try that now.

To be honest, I am not a religious person; my appeal was not to the cross, but to the look of it, turning it to a bookmark is really just so that I can use the ones that I have done as well as plan for more. They seem too big too just be tassel accents, but are too small to stand alone.

I think that they'll stay in my box until I figure it out, LOL. Until then... I'll be trying every button pattern that I can find. LOL. --Bookmarks or not. LOL. ;-)

:heart:,
Stephanie Grace

[soyloquesoy]

Shannon, that's a really cool pattern!

Stephanie, I haven't done anything with buttons yet...

I have a question (for all those who use or suggest bookmarks with buttons): Aren't they too thick and don't they ruin the pages? Or are they intended to be left sticking out of the book?

[carolivy]

I never had any problem with the button bookmarks. First off, I used size 10 thread when making them. The buttons were basically your standard shirt type buttons, so not reallll thick, but not thin shell buttons either. Mostly I use these kind of bookmarks for the inexpensive paperback type books. If I am reading one of my really good, hardback books, I only use a plain tatted bookmark.

[carolivy]

Here are some of the links I've managed to track down for you:
http://marty-tatsall.blogspot.com/2007_06_10_archive.html
http://marty-tatsall.blogspot.com/2007/10/finishing-up-one-more.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.tatsall.ca/patterns/susans_1stflake.htm (http://marty-tatsall.blogspot.com/2007/06/plus-two.html)
I have one more bookmark pattern that I can't find a link for. Will keep looking. I've had it for so long now, that I can't remember if I found this on online of if this is one I worked up combining patterns I liked...I've done that with several other patterns...sigh.

[carolivy]

Looking for the link to my last pattern, I have found these:
http://birgitstatting.blogspot.com/
http://www.georgiaseitz.com/reviews/kareybutton2.html
http://www.velona.com/items/021/B02151.html
There are several on this blog: http://needledreams2.multiply.com/journal?&=&page_start=80
http://tatting.wordpress.com/2009/06/13/blue-flower-celtic-cross/
Well, I can't find the link to the other bookmark I made, so I must have cobbled it together from several patterns...sigh

[gahorsley]

ok so StephanieGrace--I love that pattern too, and tried it right off the bat. Apparently I'm missing the brain cell that tells you how to attach the buttons.....so someone help me. StephanieGrace has revived my interest in that pattern. Do you just leave a long picot and stick your crochet hook throught the button holes and pull the picot through to join? I'm sure that makes no sense to anyone but me, but I can't get it through my head how to do it.

[carolivy]

The way I did them before was to insert my crochet hook into the button hole and draw up the thread, then put it on my needle and pull it snug, then make the next ds. Hope that helps.

[gahorsley]

it helps some, but can you translate it for a shuttle tatter like me......I really need another tatter in my area to lead me through these things!!!

[Marty]

Ah-ha! I was going to direct you to my bookmark and shirt decoration pattern, but I see Carolivy else has already done that. :biggrin:

I have some other bookmarks using buttons (but no patterns) -- they were just made from two matching sides with buttons in between:

http://marty-tatsall.blogspot.com/2007/05/plus-one.html

and this single button shirt decoration (out of which grew the T-shirt neck decoration):

http://marty-tatsall.blogspot.com/2007/05/twenty-fifth-motif.html

[Lynn]

it helps some, but can you translate it for a shuttle tatter like me......I really need another tatter in my area to lead me through these things!!!

Insert your crochet hook through the hole and pull up a loop. Post your shuttle through the loop exactly as you would for joining to another picot. Snug and make the second half of the DS. When snugging, be careful that you keep the loop thorough the button equal lengths on both sides of the button.

[gahorsley]

ahhhh Lynn, THANK YOU...the proverbial light bulb just went on and it makes sense to me now. I appreciate you taking time to clear it up for me.

[StephanieGrace]

Thank you all so much for the links!!! :cloud9: I'm also thrilled to know that people are enjoying that cross pattern! It really is lovely and that picot at the top opens up a world of possibilities... Keychains, pendants, etc... :wink:

Marty: LOL... That second motif link has been on my favorites and waiting to be tatting for quite some time now. LOL. Just waiting until I can figure out exactly how I'm going to use it. I'm sick of tatting things and then just having them sit there --Time for me to stiffen and start USING somethings... We've got a weekend of going out, so I'm thinking that I should tat myself a ring or bracelet or necklace to show off... I can just hear the questions now... "You made it? How? What's tatting? Huh? How...? LOL.

Thank you all so much for your posts! It's nice to see people actually responding! :blush:

Well, 'tis time for me to go through these links again and let my mind wrestle with that to tat first! LOL.

:heart:,
Stephanie Grace
http://stephaniegracetats.blogspot.com

[Susan B T]

There are two (2) button heart patterns, they are my own design and are on my web site..feel free to tat them. On is just a heart and one is used for a pin. They have the same title, Small heart button but there are different.

Also a snow flake with a button center, This was my first attempt at my own tatting design.

[StephanieGrace]

Thank you SO MUCH, Susan!!! I can't find your website though!!! :blush:

:heart:,
Stephanie Grace

[Lynn]

ahhhh Lynn, THANK YOU...the proverbial light bulb just went on and it makes sense to me now. I appreciate you taking time to clear it up for me.

:hugging:Always happy to help! Glad your light bulb is functioning.

[Tattin' Kat]

I'm anxious to try some of these. I love the button flower!!

[tatknot]

I have a pattern for an Easter Egg and one for a Teddy Bear that both use buttons. The links are in my left sidebar at my blog: http://tatknot.blogspot.com The egg is pretty simple, while the bear is a more complicated project to tat.