No, I didn’t get arrested.
I put tatted buttons on denim with a little lace and made cuffs for my daughters for Mother’s Day.
My original idea for my daughters did not work out, so I scrapped it and looked for something else. While on Pinterest, where I spend way too much time, I came across decorated material cuffs. They sparked an idea that had a chance to get done in the time left before Mother’s Day.
I started with a known favorite color – purple – and tatted the buttons. These could be done in the car going back and forth to work as the passenger. The easy part.
At home I found an old pair of jeans to cut up for the base. At first it was going to be one piece of denim for each cuff. It didn’t take long to decide there needed to be a backing to cover up all my stitching and keep the back pretty. I collected odds and ends of lace, ribbons, and buttons to play with, laying them out on the denim with the buttons in different ways.
I had recently purchased some leftover pieces of lace material from a local second hand shop which made a nice base for the other decorations. It didn’t take long to notice the buttons could be flowers. And what are flowers without leaves? A few leaves of green material – didn’t quite look right. They were very plain and boring. A few simple stitches with embroidery floss helped them look much more like leaves.
It took longer than expected to put the first one together. Mostly because I couldn’t make up my mind how to place things or what, exactly, I wanted. But, at last, the first one was done.
The second one didn’t take as long. Other than changing the thread colors to blues on the buttons it was pretty much the same. Except – the green material used for the leaves didn’t look as good with the blues. I had to find a different shade of green material and thread for them. I also added silver beads as I stitched everything down.
My sewing machine is not accessible at the moment so I stitched the ends down by hand. Which would have looked much better in something other than white, especially I as I can’t sew straight. I purposely left the sides frayed-looking but it won’t fray far. The two layers of denim are glued together.
The cuffs are finished off with a button on each end and an elastic hair band in the same color as the flower buttons. They are easy to put on.
I gave the cuffs to my daughters the week after Mother’s Day. One was completed on time but not the other. Gotta be fair, right?
I’m thinking about making one for myself. Will I continue with flowers or try something else?
I would hate to be cuffed to only one idea.
Okay, I’m done now.
“Don’t let your habits become handcuffs.”
Elizabeth Berg
Elizabeth Berg