The details of the book to finish

This has been the most rewarding and challenging project I have done to date. It has challenged every skill I have - communication, composition and drawing with a different medium. Using the sewing machine as a drawing device has been exciting. I have never hand felted before, but I believed it was the ideal way of applying vivid colour in keeping with the textures and ethos of the book.
As it was a book about a button - something which is attached by thread - the decision to stitch both illustrations and text onto fabric became the ideal choice. It made it time-consuming and challenging for my hand, but I come away with a confidence of drawing with my sewing machine and by hand that I didn't have before.

But fulfils the theme of "outsider," in that he was different and rejected because he was broken. He was pushed out of his environment, yet came to a point of acceptance before he was found and taken to the place he did belong. As it was a children's story, I felt it only right to bring it to a good conclusion. The outcast who became the hero and ends up with a fresh purpose.

As a child I loved playing with both my grandmothers' button tins. My paternal grandmother, who I called Granny B was a professional seamstress. She used to mend the boys' uniforms at Wycliffe College in Stroud and my childhood was spent exploring her attic where she kept bundles of fabric hidden under the bedclothes. I always thought it looked like a dead body! I loved looking through her endless collection of Dewhurst cotton reels, zips, poppers, darning mushroom, bobbins and pins.
Some of the cotton which was in her sewing box has been used in this project, so in a sense it is a tribute to her.

But perhaps more significant to my immediate family is my 10 year old daughter Megan, who has a button phobia, a condition called Koumpounophobia. She doesn't like any button with tiny holes and really dislikes the Union Jack buttons in this book. However she does like But and has enjoyed seeing me makes lots of Buts out of Fimo. She has been involved throughout the story process and whilst she still doesn't like buttons, is honoured to have this particular button tin dedicated to her.

To finish then, here are some of the details of the images

The cover design and end result

To set the scene of But, my intention for the "book" structure was to make it like a button tin yet have an old fashioned book feel to it as well. I looked at these button tins for inspiration. Both my maternal and paternal grandmothers had button tins that were old biscuit tins. They were round in shape, but the one I have developed over the past 14 years since my eldest daughter was born is rectangular and I felt this was a good page format to use.
Originally I did think about making a box for the book to go inside and made a prototype to explore this, however in the end as the pages were finished, I decided on creating a cover that looked like the top of a button tin.

These are some vintage button tin lids which inspired me

 

 

I personally have a button tin like the pink one here and it acts like a book, so using this format I felted an oval and wrote buttons on it, and used a small oval on the spine like the ones seen on an old book.

 

 

This is the final product which I was thrilled with. The final leg was the hardest as I couldn't machine stitch any of it. I spent at least 15 hours hand stitching the whole thing together and blanket stitching the pages with a bronze/gold thread to finish it off.

 

I chose the purple and gold to reflect the tale from "pit to palace." But starts off as the outsider, not belonging in the button tin yet ends up in far higher place - a place where he was destined to be - which is in the Royal palace.

 

 

 

 

Amending, finishing pages and construction begins

Hours have been spent reworking, sewing, unpicking, re-sewing, adjusting and finishing the pages of But's story in order to put the book together.

The tennis ball on page 9 bugged me because it looked flat. So I changed it from this

 

to this:

 

 

 I felt happier with it and sewed the edges of the page with cream cotton ready for construction

Buttons got sewn on and amendments added, such as a whole button on the final end page

And completing some pages that needed some attention. This page I started and it shows compared to the others. It has been adapted a few times and if I had time I would do it again, but this is the best I could do at this stage.

And so it continued, sewing in ends, changing things, adding buttons, felting, stitching where necessary until I could take my folded Calico and start constructing. One advance of working with textiles is that I can use pins to get pages in place. So on my knees, armed with my pages and pins I got to work

By pinning it, I could ensure there was enough space when opening the pages. I didn't want the pages to be tight and it was important it opened like a book.

I have decided to sew it by hand as a sewing machine would struggle with the bulk. If I can, I will blanket stitch the pages together so that it has a gold/bronze glint rather like an old Bible with pages dipped in gold paint.

The next big issue ....the cover. I want it to look like an authentic button tin, but also act as a book. So I have been researching button tin lids and looking at the bric-a-brac stalls at Stroud's Friday market, which helped.

Working on pages....

Here are a few images to show the development of pages that have been added to and stitched in the past few days.

Need to do the following to these pages:

• But needs to be changed on page 1 from But to but.
• Add some more British buttons to page 3
• Fold round the edges and sew neatly ready for putting together - to consider: do I sew running stitch in cream or perhaps zigzag? If I go for the latter, do I choose an alternate colour eg pink and purple on corresponding pages to reflect colours scheme of the whole book? Or do I hand stitch with blanket stitch which would be more time-consuming?!

 

 

 

Finalising papes and getting ready for construction

The past few days I have spent hours stitching, sewing ends, hand sewing, designing and thinking through the process of how to put it all together. Pages have been added to with further stitching in gold, silver and other metallic threads which has been tricky. I knew I had to stop last night when I accidentally cut one of the pages and ended up hand sewing another to my jeans!

I am still nervous about putting everything together and can't do this until all the pages are completely finished...so it is important to press on and get the work done. I have made Buts for the pages that haven't yet got one....and realised that the But on the first page has to be redone because it starts with a capital letter. All the other pages the But begins with a lower case.

Taking the research and experiments with the concertina spine, this is the first stage - the preparation stage for putting all the images together.

Showing the folds which will tuck between each page

Sewed the edges of the Calico first to prevent fraying

 



By felting and sewing details on each page enabled me to ensure the colours were consistent throughout. There is still much to do, but I have a clear idea what needs to be done to achieve my goal now.

I now need to research some button tins and see if any lids inspire me for the front cover.

Researching other stitched books by artists

It's quite overwhelming seeing the range of textile books around. There are some very talented craftsmen and women about. This one caught my eye. It is an example of Coptic binding which comprises methods of bookbinding employed by early Christians in Egypt (the Copts). It was used from as early as the 2nd century AD to the 11th century.
These beautiful hand-embroidered and felted books were made by Chad Alice Hagen, a felt maker, resist dyer and book maker. Her felt work can be found in major collections and has appeared on the covers of Surface Design Journal, Fiberarts and Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot magazines. She is the author of three books including The Weekend Crafter: Feltmaking (2002), Fabulous Felt Hats (2005), and The Fabulous Felt Scarf (2007), all published by Lark Books. She has a BA and a MS from the University of Wisconsin and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Chad teaches workshops in the United States and Europe and maintains a fulltime felt and book studio in Asheville, NC. Whilst I won't be able to achieve this in such a short space of time - or perhaps ever - it is good to see what can be done with felt and embroidery - and a lot of patience!

 

This is another book which inspired me. It is the work of Janet Edmonds, who studied stitched textiles at East Berkshire College and gained a BA (Hons) in Art and Design at the University of Hertfordshire. This image comes from her book, Beginner's Guide to Embroidered Boxes, published by Search Press Ltd, Kent in 2002.

  

 These two images were from a textile blog by bead artist Robin Atkins - http://beadlust.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/felting-dying-book-making-fun.html. I am particularly inspired by the finish on this spine...so I might try it out if I get time.