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