Buttons for a coat or a coat for some buttons...

At the end of last year I had the opportunity to use artist's clay to make my own buttons. About 6 months before, I had bought some beautiful variegated yarn to knit my daughter a winter coat. I wasn't confident of finding the right buttons to set off the coat, so when this opportunity came up I jumped at the chance. My friend Elaine and I set off and had a very enjoyable evening crafting our own buttons in different shapes and sizes.

Energised by the thought of my customised buttons I set about knitting the coat. I followed this pattern from Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/swing-thing The coat knit up really quickly and I was so happy with the results.

It took Elaine and I while to synchronise our diaries to get back to paint our buttons but we spent one lovely Saturday afternoon painting away. I had taken a swatch of the yarn to get the best match for the buttons. I was so keen to get the finished buttons and put them together with the coat. I even started thinking about lining the coat for an extra "professional" finish.

Unfortunately the shop closed down before our buttons were glazed and fired.

Today I explored options to try again to make my own buttons. I found this great blog about MYO Polymer clay buttons. http://www.lisaclarke.net/2011/02/07/bbc-lesson-one-%E2%80%93-introduction-to-polymer-and-your-first-button/ At the next opportunity I'm off to the local craft store with my swatch to get the best match and finally finish the coat. Maybe this new craft opportunity will also inspire me to finally finish the embroidery on the coat...