I have this sort of love affair with buttons. Just ask my husband, who waited very patiently while I spent over an hour in a tiny button store in Cardiff while we were on vacation picking out more buttons that I’d care to count.
I think I brought home at least 20 different styles.
The thing about loving buttons is that it would be really great if I really liked making button loops or button holes. I’d be using buttons all the time. Trouble is, I hate making button holes. I imagine that I’ll eventuall figure out how to do it in a way that doesn’t make me want to turn my needles against myself, but, until that becomes absolutely necessary, I think I’ll be one of those people who finds many alternative (read: decorative) uses for buttons.
Decorative buttons, actually, are one of my favorite things about the Steampunk aesthetic. (Another is bustles. And fingerless mitts, because I live in San Francisco and suffice it to say that while none of my jackets are very heavy, I pretty much don’t leave home without one. Even in August. But I digress.) They might serve a real purpose… then again, they don’t need to. They add ornament and beauty and, if they’re the right sort of buttons, a fabulous industrial feel to just about anything. Which is why they’re a part of my design for the Steampunk pattern collection that The Sanguine Gryphon is releasing in a couple of months.
I’m particularly excited about a few gems I found from TreasureCast. Good sizes, good colors, cast in pewter or antique brass finish which gives them a nice sturdy feel that I absolutely love and they make a steampunk line that includes more than just watch parts. Not that I’m against watch parts, mind you, but it’s pretty darn neat to see gears and rivets and (the set that I’m currently eyeing), buttons cast from an actual bolt.
I’m excited about other aspects of my pattern, too. It’s been a fun idea, a fun design (a challenge, but then, I like challenges), a fun knit and, well, I can definitely see rearranging and reconstructing it in a variety of ways.
I can’t really say more than that, now, except maybe to say that I was very much inspired by leather, goggles and pirate airship commanders.
Oh, and I can show you a little tease from one of my swatches.
Curiosity piqued?
So awesome! One of my favorite designs you’ve done yet