Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Busty Resources and Dyeing Buttons

Yes, I have sewn a couple things but have not taken pics, so no posts yet. That is unusual for me - I usually get right to the pics.

Resources for the Busty

I have created a page (available from the top of my blog) of Resources for the Busty. If you have other resources to recommend, please let me know. I don't intend for this to be an exhaustive list, which is a pain to maintain, but a list of useful resources that, either I have used/created, or that will save me from explaining techniques, such as rotating darts. (I do a lot of dart rotation, which is very useful and very fun!)

Dyeing Buttons


Closeup of dyed buttons, next to an undyed button.

Also, there was interest from my last post on more information about dyeing buttons. Over two years ago, I remember seeing some blogs, or websites (I can't remember, exactly) on dyeing buttons. The sites I saw used plastic buttons, which seem to take dyes quite eagerly. I had a lot of mother of pearl buttons purchased inexpensively at Fabrix, and wanted to give it a try. But, like so many other natural things, mother of pearl seems less eager to take the dye - instead of red, I got a pretty pink. (I'm sure there are dyes out that that will work better on mother of pearl, but I haven't researched it. It will probably require cooking the buttons.) I do like the results, and have not gone back and tried again with plastic buttons, because I didn't have any white plastic buttons lying around. :)

The technique I used was to take a plastic cup and spoon. Pour some liquid Rit dye (it might have been dissolved Dylon, but I think it was Rit) into the cup, and add the buttons. Stir occasionally. Because the buttons didn't take much of the dye, and I wanted more of a red button, I ended up letting that cup sit on my kitchen counter for weeks. It didn't help. I finally emptied the cup, rinsed them thoroughly, let them dry, and put them in the button box.

If you google "dyeing buttons" you will find a bounty of resources, but here are a few to get you started:

If you have any additional useful resources, please list them in the comments section.

Happy Tuesday!