Beaded Button Brooch Workshops

On September 22 and October 10 I'll be doing Beaded Button workshops for RSVP in Oxford and the North Mississippi Fiber Guild in Hernando. The workshop is three hours and participants should be able to finish their embellished button brooch and wear it home!

Here is a sample of one of my beaded button brooches. To see more samples, click on the slide show of beaded buttons (on the right, the beaded cat button picture).

For RSVP participants, all you need to bring is a 1" or larger button. All other materials are provided. The workshop is from 10:00 to 1:30, so bring a lunch (dessert and drinks provided by RSVP).

(NMFG, please visit the guild Yahoo site for a list of materials to bring, though most supplies will be provided.)

What sort of button works well for this project? Well, just about any kind of button! If you have a button with sentimental value (perhaps it once resided on your mother's winter coat), bring that and wear a memory of your mother on your lapel!

Buttons old, new, plain, fancy, solid color or patterned -- they all work. The vintage button in the upper left of this photo was recently given to me by a friend. I can't wait to make it into a pin. It's so me, the pink gloved hand, holding the big rhinestone! The bottom left button was recently purchased, at M&J Trimming in NYC. The button on the right is from Africa.

Colorful and inexpensive new buttons make good beaded button brooches:


In Oxford you can find pretty and colorful new buttons at the Fabric Center on University. Ellen has a wonderful button selection there. Even Wal-Mart has a good, though smaller, selection of colorful buttons.
Lastly, if you want to spend a lot of money, you can find reproduction Czech glass buttons online.  The glass dragonfly button, below, was purchased at the big bead show in Tucson last February, and it cost about $10. I think the "work in progress" button is funny; I found it at M&J Trimming on my recent trip to New York City. The soft pink button in the center is plastic.

Remember, 1" or larger. See you on the 22nd!