Save the Whales

These are the buttons I made for Michelle's Embroidered Button Swap.  I had never made embroidered buttons before and it was considerably more challenging than I'd expected.  As you can see, they're not particularly uniform!

I ended up making them like this:

First I cut a little whale out of fusible webbing-backed wool felt and pressed it onto some linen.

Then I wrapped the felt shape with perle cotton floss . . .

. . . until it was completely covered.

Then I backstitched around the whole thing.

Next, I added an eye and spout.

To create the "water," I sewed a little scrap of fabric directly under the whale embroidery.

To create the "waves," I hand-stitched a row of baby ric-rac along the top of the "water."  Then I used a little template to cut the whole thing into a circle before stretching it over the button form.

 

They kind of remind me of those animals that JCrew embroiders on everything (which cracks me up).  Hopefully whomever receives them has a preppy project in the works!

Comments

[lily boot]

They are utterly divine! There's nothing un-uniform about them! The perle cotton gives them a fabulous texture and the feature fabric and baby ric-rac are just perfect! I can just imagine them on a little boy's navy blue pea jacket with hood!

[Lisa]

Amazing buttons! Love the embroidery and the ric rac waves. Very creative...

[Marta]

They look great!!! congratulations! love them!

[Lera]

Cute!

[Lauren]

I'm kinda blown away by these... maybe I'm out of the loop, but I never would've thought you could do that with buttons! Soooo cute!

[carrie]

those look amazing!

[Dallas]

Great buttons and great tips. This swap was my first time doing embroidered buttons too.

[Michele C]

I'm going to have to put a request in to Michelle to send me one of your buttons in the swap. That is so ingenioius. I spent hours trying to draw little animals and cut out little ones from scrapbooking papers and cards trying to get a clear drawing. Now I know! -- Michele

[Terri]

These are really fantastic! You make it look so easy that I might try making them too.

[heather hales DESIGNS]

I thrifted some buttons this past week just for this purpose. To create some embroidered buttons! Yours turned out SO CUTE! I love the idea of using a felt form as a guide. very clever.

[MichelleB]

Those are adorable. And what an ingenious way to do them!

[Hege]

Cute, cute, cute!!

[Lil' d]

Those look really great.

[jackie]

These are crazy cute! And are you a perfectionist or what - uniform, schpooniform they look pretty close to perfect to me!

[Rashida]

*faints* They are just to wonderful for words! I love them!

[Bridget]

These are just adorable!!!

[Ana Lilia]

oh! when i first saw your post i thought that your embroidered buttons were so lovely and i was impressed with the wonderful job you did with the satin stitch! but then i was even more surprised and happy to see how you actually did it! thank you so much for the tutorial! i simply love those embroidered whales!

[janice]

Do you think I could get just a fractional dose of your madly genious, creative mind? You obviously have plenty to spare :D

[Rebekah]

these are absolutely adorable! That whale is so cute!

[maxine]

fanTABulous! Very clever, and excellent stitching. I'm more than mildly envious...

[Lynn]

Wow! These buttons are just adorable. You did an extra-great job! I might try this myself and replace some buttons on my jackets! You've inspired me with your creativity! Thanks so much for sharing this!

[Miss Snips]

You just taught me how to make my embroidery stand UP or OUT! I have not before thought to put a piece of felt or fabric under the stitches -- I know I will use this technique some time very soon! Thanks!

[mildlycrafty]

They look beautiful, well done!

[Fuji Mama]

Way too cute!

[Dawn]

These are fantastic! I love the idea of using the fusible-webbing-backed felt as your guide. Is that something that is available at most craft stores or is it a speciality item?