Last time I showed you how to add cross stitch to an article of clothing. In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to make a pretty kickass button adorned with cross stitch without needing an expensive button make. It’s quite simple with the proper tools.

Necessary tools for the job

You will need:

• cover button kit
• 22-count fabric
• embroidery floss
• small gauge needles (I use 26 gauge)
• a sharp cutting utensil: embroidery scissors work pretty well
• an idea

Cover Button Kit

Most craft stores will stock a cover button kit like this one. You’ll typically find it near the sewing supplies. They’re intended for use on dresses and the like. The idea is that one could precisely match the color of the buttons to the dress by covering these buttons with a piece of fabric leftover from the making of the garment. As it turns out, you can stick a bit of fabric you’ve cross stitched on just as easily.

These cover buttons come in a variety of sizes, but I’ve chosen the 1.5 inch size. This will give me enough room to stitch a standard 16×16 sprite with enough white space to provide balance. The design is going to need to be small enough to leave a bit of room at the edges. A good rule of thumb for a 1.5 inch button is to pick a design 1 inch or smaller.

The first step of course is to stitch your design. Well, technically, the first step is to pick your design and figure out what floss colors you’ll be using. I assuming you’ve already managed to do that. I’m also assuming that you’ve already learned how to cross stitch. You can find some good tutorials online if you need some pointers.

I’m going to be using the Robot Ninja Haggle Man pattern that I posted several days ago. You can too, if you like, as I’ve provided the pattern and floss list. Any small image will work just great.

To maximize the available stitching area I’m using 22-count Hardanger fabric. That means a design 22 stitches in width (or height) will take up 1 inch of fabric on my finished button and look quite smashing on a 1.5 inch button.

Divide your fabric into two-inch squares.

Cut the fabric into 2 inch square segments. This packet of Hardanger comes in sheets of 11″×14″ so it’ll make a bunch of buttons. When stitching on 22-count you’ll want to use a single strand of floss rather than the two you may be accustomed to with larger counts.

Stitch the design directly in the center of the fabric.

The same character at 14-count (left) and 22-count (right).

Stitch the design as usual, using just one strand of floss. A 2 inch square of fabric won’t fit into any hoop, but it’s not really necessary. Don’t bother ironing it yet, because you’re going to need to fold it again in the next step.

Fold the fabric in half along the guide cut from the back of the package.

The cover button kit will probably have a pattern marked on the back of the cardboard liner. It’s just a semicircle of cardboard with a radius of half the button, or ¾ inch. Fold the completed cross stitch along the flat side and cut around the edge of the pattern.

I cut a bit too much off (and snipped the edge of my pattern) but it'll still be fine.

Now you have a circle of fabric with your design in the center. I slipped up and cut one edge too closely and my circle is pretty sad. It won’t matter in the end. You do need to cut the fabric a little bit though because it needs to fit in between the parts of the cover button.

The kit comes with a button back, a button front, a rubber guide, and a small plastic "pusher."

Inside the cover button kit you’ll find four button halves, a rubber guide, and a small plastic “pusher.” The fabric will be stretched across the top (the rounded bit) and the edges will be sandwiched between that and the bottom (the flat bit). Now, I haven’t done an exhaustive search for every type of button like this so there’s a chance that some don’t come with all these parts. This is the type I’ve found locally.

These are designed to be sewn on to fabric so they have a bit on the back that will get in the way later.

These buttons are designed to be the sorts of buttons you use on a garment or upholstery. As such, they have a small metal peg for sewing on to something. This is going to get in the way later.

Just tear it off. It'll take some effort. Don't worry if you bend the button back a little.

So just rip it off. It can be a tad dicey, and the aluminum back has a tendency to bend. Unless you really mangle it this won’t be a problem. Just get that sucker off of there!

Center the fabric atop the rubber guide.

Put the front of the button (the rounded bit) on top.

With all the prep work completed, it’s time to assemble. Center the stitched fabric on top of the rubber guide and set the front of the button on top of it. I’ve found this a bit more reliable than trying to center the fabric on top of the front itself.

Push down the fabric and the button front.

Push the fabric and the front of the button down into the rubber guide. This stretches the fabric taut across the button. This is what that “pusher” is designed to do, but you can use just about anything.

Fold the loose fabric over.

Cover with the button back.

Press all of it down again.

Fold all the extra bits of fabric sticking out into the center of the button. Set the back of the button on top. Push the back of the button down as far as possible. Friction will hold the entire thing together.

Flip open the rubber guide.

And there you have your completed button, more or less. The loose edges are sandwiched between the two button halves. As you can see, I didn’t do a spectacular job of centering my design. That’s okay. It’s these little imperfections that make it handmade!

The best pinback I've found thus far, not to say I like it.

Stick it on the back of the button.

These are the best pinbacks I’ve been able to find. I’m not thrilled with them. The spring is terribly finicky and difficult to keep straight while pinning. They get the job done, and they’re a snap to affix. These pins have an adhesive back that I can attest holds tight. Just peel off the backing and stick it on.

At this point you could also opt to make a pretty awesome little magnet too. You should be able to find self-adhesive magnets in your local craft store. With the proper glue any old magnet should work just fine. I’ll have to give that a shot someday soon.

The finished (albeit off-centered) product!

There you have it. One slightly off-centered but totally handmade Robot Ninja Haggleman button. Pretty cool, right?

Last weekend I finally got my act together and set up an Etsy shop wherein I might sell some of my crafts. I currently have 10 items up for purchase and I’ll be adding more as I complete them. I aim to get a banner set up in the sidebar once I get a sidebar setup. I’ll need to do some re-designing to fit one in and I just can’t seem to get very far into it lately.

Be that as it may, the shop is located at benjibot.etsy.com . I hope the pricing is fair. Oh, I’m open to the idea of custom orders too. Just send me a message through the store.

Let’s say for argument’s sake you’re a bit of a dab hand at cross stitch but you’re a bit sick of mounting and framing everything you make. Or you’ve run out of places to put or hang them and so have all of the friends to whom you’d normally gift your work. Yet you’re not yet ready to learn something new and your compulsions won’t allow you to just stop crafting. What to do?

(I suppose I could’ve just drop the whole “for argument’s sake” bit. I just described myself. But you probably already knew that.)

Well, how about embellishing something like a bit of clothing? It’s not that much more difficult than traditional cross stitch. It looks pretty danged nice too, particularly if you’re doing two-dimensional pixel art like myself.

Now, you can cross stitch on any old fabric you want if you have a mind to do it. You can even stitch on a piece of clothing freehand if you like. Some folks can make nice straight stitches this way. I can’t, so I use something called waste canvas. Waste canvas is essentially a very loose piece of evenweave fabric. It can be used as a guide and then removed once the stitch is complete.

Waste canvas can be used to guide cross stitch on non-evenweave fabrics such as clothing.

In this tutorial I’ll be working with another baby Onesie™. I’ll be stitching upon it the pink Shyguy from Super Mario Bros. 2. This guide presupposes that you are already familiar with cross stitch and have already found your image and selected your floss.

(By the way, I’m using DMC colors 310, 3806, and B5200 for this particular character.)

Cut the waste canvas to a suitable size for your chosen image.

To prepare the waste canvas I’m going to cut it into fourths. This is a larger piece of canvas than I really need for a 15×16 sprite but I want to put it into a hoop to maintain tension and the smallest hoop I own is 4 inches in diameter.

Identify the place you'd like the cross stitched design to be and lay the bottom part of the hoop beneath it.

Center the waste canvas above your hoop.

Next I’ll need to find out where I’d like this Shyguy to go. Since I’m using a baby Onesie™ I like to put the stitch as close to the middle as possible. Rather than measure anything I just put the bottom part of my hoop under the front of the clothing.

Now I’ll center the piece of waste canvas I cut earlier over the fabric as best I can. I use the dark blue threads to gauge the center of the canvas as well as determine if it’s straight. Because the piece is big enough to cover the hoop and then some I don’t need to worry overly about centering it.

Sandwich the waste canvas between the fabric and the hoop.

Try to keep a fair amount of tension in your clothing, but don't overdo it.

As stiff as the waste canvas is, and as thick as it and the Onesie™ fabric are together this step can be difficult. I take the top part of the hoop and sandwich the waste canvas between the front of the clothing and the hoop. I need to try and keep the Onesie™ fabric taut without stretching it too badly.

Now I just need to fully seat the hoop and tighten it. I’m ready to start stitching. I’ll trust that you don’t need any instructions on this part. If so, a quick search with your favorite search engine should produce good results. I posted a tutorial a while back but I’m not going to link it now because I just know the formatting has been buggered up by careless redesigns.

I've found it's easiest to fold the fabric over so I can have greater access to the back.

I’m going to want to get access to the back of the clothing, so I flip the Onesie™ over and secure it on the top of the hoop. Otherwise I’d have a hard time maneuvering the needle about.

Using the waste canvas as a guide, cross stitch your design onto the fabric.

Remove the hoop.

With the cross stitch completed I’m ready to remove my waste canvas. Taking off the hoop I’m left with quite a bit of excess waste canvas. I’m going to want to get rid of this as it’ll make the next steps needlessly difficult.

Trim the excess waste canvas.

Using a pair of scissors—it doesn’t really matter what type—I’ll trim the waste canvas down as small as I can. I want to leave enough to grab onto though. Just a lazy circle around the finished cross stitch will do fine.

One direction at a time, pull the threads from the waste canvas.

Now it’s time to start removing the waste canvas threads. I’ve found a clean pair of needlenose pliers to be quite useful for this step. It also helps to dampen the cross stitch. This loosens the fibers and allows the waste canvas threads to slip out with less effort. Apply a moistened wash cloth to the front of the stitch. You don’t want it soaking, you just want it damp.

Start pulling out thread from one direction at a time. If your cross stitch is longer on one side than the other start with the shortest side—if it’s taller than it is wide start with the horizontal threads. Since the Shyguy is almost a square I’ve just picked the vertical threads.

Remove the waste canvas threads that remain.

The vertical threads removed, I can now pull out the horizontal threads. This is a far cry easier than the first round of thread removal. I’m even able to pull out two at a time a couple of times. Still, it pays to be gentle. I don’t want to mess up my hard work.

You're done! Go find a baby to stick it on.

And I’m finished! The cross stitch is applied to the Onesie™¹ and the waste canvas is removed. I don’t have any scratchy interfacing to irritate baby’s sensitive skin. I’d probably still recommend hand washing this. I haven’t tried to machine wash them. It might work just fine, but I’d be hesitant to try.

¹ This ™ bit is getting more than a little tiresome and almost certainly not necessary, but once I found out that they are ™ by Gerber I just couldn’t stop.

My efforts to craft another entire holiday’s worth of gifts have firmly entrenched me in the realm of the obsessive. I’m spending more and more of my free time as well—as some that probably isn’t so free—thinking about stitching, reading about stitching, or working on a stitch project. As I said previously, I can’t share some of them with the internets because I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise. They’ll be up though, eventually.

As of today I’m done with one cross stitch project, halfway through a plastic canvas embroidery project, and just starting another cross stitch project. With each individual project taking roughly 2 – 3 days to complete I should be able to get a pretty good pile done if I don’t get burned out. Or injured.

That plastic canvas thing I mentioned earlier is proving to be a hell of a lot harder than I had expected. The tutorial I’m following advises using all six strands of embroidery floss. I’m finding it to be tough to pull all that thread through a 14-count plastic canvas sheet. All that repetitive tugging is starting to do a number on my wrist and shoulder.

This latest bout of obsession has got me to thinking about this here site. I’d always had it in the back of my head that I should try and write real articles and not standard blog posts. By which I mean I should do a bit of research and try to act smart. This isn’t quite working for me. I think, perhaps, I’ll try and go the other route for a while. Also, I’m probably going to take it in a more crafty route because, as I said, I’m not doing or thinking anything else lately. There are a few minor changes I’d like to make vis-a-vis the layout and structure of the site, but they’ll have to wait until this holiday madness has left me.

Would you look at the calendar? It’s the middle of goddamned November. That means Christmas is right around the corner. That means gifts. I don’t really care much for shopping. Why should I just buy some lame-ass gift in a store when I have the wherewithal to create a one-of-a-kind, handmade present?

Problem is, I kind of let it slip my mind to start crafting. So I’ve got a pretty short time to get these things done. I think I can do it, though. Maybe.

What this means is, despite being so very close to the finish line on the ol’ Dragon Warrior project, I’m going to need to table it for the time being. Since there’s a chance, albeit a small one, that a would-be recipient might stumble across a photo, I’m also going to need to put an embargo on any photos of gifts in progress. Some of my ideas are pretty damned good too. It hurts me to have to do this. Keep an eye out for a slew of posts after the embargo has been lifted.

Onward, cross stitch xmas 2008!

So, the cross stitch thing is going pretty well. When I picked up the needle and thread a few years ago I didn’t really intend to keep it up year-round. I didn’t really intend anything aside from getting a (relative) deal on xmas gifts.

I’m enjoying it, and the stitching I’ve done has gotten a small amount of interest. My stuff has been on Kotaku, TUAW, and Sprite Stitch. I’m digging the attention. I’m keen on being a part of the crafty community. And I’m thinking of branching out.

I don’t know the first thing about it, but I’m thinking about knitting. Okay, I know the first thing about it, but I’ve never tried it. But Chicago gets pretty cold in the winter, and these mushroom mittens are pretty bad ass. I’ve got a few good ideas for scarves too.

But jiminy! Do I really need more stray bits of fabric floating about? Do I really have the time to adopt more hobbies? Is it madness?

Astute readers may well have noticed the new ongoing project over to the right of the page. Coming off the high of a much anticipated cross stitch (that I will post as soon as I get it mounted and framed) I was eager to keep on riding that feeling and deigned to put my energy toward an extensive continuous project — a first for me if you don’t count those Final Fantasy characters from a while back (I don’t).

Over the past few weeks I’ve been immersing myself in Dragon Quest VIII to much enjoyment. The enemies in that game have been one of my favorite aspects. As the entire series seems founded on a steady bedrock of nostalgia, it was no wonder that I remembered my history with the series (which is largely only the first Dragon Warrior game as it’s the only one I’ve finished to completion).

So, I turned my craftiness to it. I threw together a Slime in an afternoon on some of the 11-count fabric that had been sitting around since the big cross stitch xmas. Then, with three more sections of that fabric to go, I thought I might as well use them up too. Then I felt guilty for playing favorites. How could I immortalize only four of these critters? I decided to go for broke and do them all. There are only 40 in the first game. That’s not so many, right? They don’t take too long to finish; as of the time of this post I have seven down and an eighth nearing completion only waiting on photos and posts.

I’ve created a special page to allow you dear readers to browse all of the completed monsters in a single viewing. As they are posted you’ll be able to find them here. As this effort progresses I also intend to flesh out the description, adding background information and other tidbits. Perhaps I might also craft a dedicated feed for these posts if I feel it worthwhile.

I’ve had a couple of requests for a pattern for the Happy Mac cross stitch I did a while back and it got me to wondering if I could make a convincing simple chart with just CSS. Answer: for the most part yes.

Caveat: I haven’t really checked this exhaustively in your browser, unless your browser is Safari. If it doesn’t look right, well that’s why I included the PDF version.

Check out the Happy Mac chart

Jump straight to the PDF version