that's tuft

Last weekend I took another class at The Needle Shop! (remember these 1, 2, 3, 4 ?)

I get their news letters and when I saw that tufting was on the new class list I signed up right away.  Just in case you don't know what I'm talking about, "Tufting" is an upholstery term, it's something you see a lot on headboards, couches and chairs (the buttons that sink down into the fabric and create a 3D diamond pattern).  I've always wanted to learn and it turns out it's much easier that I thought!

Unlike the ottoman class, we didn't make a completed piece of furniture, like a headboard (there are too many variables to do a project that big in a beginners class).  Instead we each upholstered a 2" by 2" piece of wood.

The most complicated part is figuring out your spacing for the buttons, but once you do and you drill the holes in the wood you get to take this awesome foam cutter thing and cut your holes in the foam...

Then we made covered buttons to match our fabric.  It was so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!  I always thought you needed some crazy machine to make buttons, but it's so simple.  You just need two chintzy pieces of plastic (that come in the button pack) and a hammer (or really strong fingers).  It was really satisfying to make all these...

Rachel (owner of The Needle Shop) was so surprised at how excited we got over buttons.  And the excitement didn't stop there.

Even though we were just making a sample piece I still bought some fun fabric. I tried to center the buttons in the flowers, but I think that's a more advanced move, so after the first tuft I gave up on that idea.

It turned out really great, and now I just want to tuft everything in our house.

I'm still not sure what I'll do with my doll's bed sized headboard, but I'll let you know when I come up with a crafty idea!


p.s. Speaking of the newsletter, our tufting class was the first one The Needle Shop had held, so Rachel took some pictures for their facebook page and the site, and guess what showed up on the most recent newsletter...

Hahaha!!! A ridiculous picture of me next to a cozy cat!