Button tree

[Nobodyhasthisoneyet]

Mum's birthday was on New Year's Eve, and as usual I'd left it until the last minute to sort out her gift.  I planned to make something in the lull between Christmas and New Year's, but mother nature had other ideas and threw the biggest flood in 70 years at us.

So, in the breaks between extra shifts at work and general panic, I made her a button tree:



The fabric is all from my stash, and the pattern I worked out myself.  I was inspired by the many felted/sewn/knitted/crocheted Christmas tree stuffies that did the rounds of the internet in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  I wanted something that didn't look Christmassey - Mum's had 67 years of birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper, it's something of a sore point! - so went with something that had less of the pine tree look, and more like the ball-on-a-stick a kid would draw.  I go into tedious detail about the maths behind the pattern over on my craft blog, if you're remotely interested.  But suffice to say it's not so much spherical as sort of bumpy.  The trunk has a jar full of sand in it, for weight and stability.

The buttons and beads are pinned on, rather than sewn.  Partially because it's designed to be used, so I want it to be easy to get the buttons off and new ones on.  But mostly because I was never going to have time to sew them all on.  I used four of those pinwheel containers of fancy pins, and still ran short.

Nekkid tree, showing one of the few times I manage to get pieces to line up properly:


Thanks for looking!

[imafundork]

I love it!  Your mum's a lucky lady! 

[KLKing]

I love it too! And it's usable... she'll have a lot of fun PLAYING with button-arrangements!

[mexi]

cute.... she needs a button lounge chair to sit under her tree!!!!

[vampedangel14]

Ooh I really like your idea! I bet your mum loves it.

[mrskristina]

This is too cute. I am going to have to try one with some scraps I have laying around. The fabric is a great combination.

[psyche]

Adorable! Cute idea, and nice way to use scraps too.

[jemimah]

That's such a great idea! I love the way you can keep using the buttons and pins, rather than just have a cute decoration. Much cuter than an old icecream container of buttons! - which is where my buttons live ...

[crassy_mcnasty]

I love this, it's adorable!!

[fiffi]

How cute is that!