Mother-of-pearl button book

As promised, here's the fabric book I made to keep; I just finished it a few days ago.  I was inspired to make it when Jeanelle gave me this pretty little bag of carded mother-of-pearl buttons.

I decided right then and there that I needed a book full of pockets to hold my new treasures!

 Here's the frilly front cover...

with a favorite element: a lovely mother-of-pearl "Mother" brooch!

The first two pages, with pockets created with vintage fabrics, and trimmed with vintage crochet embellishments.

Pages three and four are bright!

The piggy got a bow and flower collar, while the pocket on the bottom is decorated with printed and real buttons.

You'll recognize this fabric from Jeanelle's book; this is the other piece of the same linen towel.

I sewed on two doilies to create pockets, and embellished them with buttons.

 

The next two pages...

Two pockets on the left, continuing the bright pinks and corals with some beautiful barkcloth fabric scraps made into pockets;

I edged the pockets with some French General "I love you" tape, and embellished the page with vintage millinery and a fountain pen nib.  The next page switches palettes to pale blue.

 I stitched a gorgeous embellishment from a white cotton panel that had been damaged onto a bit of a ruffled, pale blue sheer pillow cover.  Then it was edged in blue crochet trim.

All of that went on top of a piece of finely embroidered table runner.  I even sewed a bit of Salamandre blue and yellow trim to the edge of the page.

The next two pages...more blue and white, and then full color with patchwork!

One of the elements I love best about this page, besides the girl at the pianoforte (so Austen-esque!), is the German silk souvenir ribbon.

The facing page has three quilt "squares" on it!  All feedsack fabric, the ones on the right earlier than the left.  I sewed some blue silk seam tape onto one of the squares, and I will tie button cards to it through the hole at the top of the card!   I adore the multicolored tatting in between the two types of quilting!

These are my favorite pages: first, the blue and white on the left -- I just love that blue and white trim that shows at the edge from the previous page!

I used two coordinating fabrics; the narrow strip at the edge is from a linen kitchen towel that belonged to a friend's mother; I attached it with some hens feet stitching to a similar fabric that came from a linen tablecloth.  I've gotten a lot of artistic use out of that blue and white tablecloth, and this is among the last bits of it!  I wanted my favorite tablecloth to show through so I sewed the corner of a sheer placemat over it to make a pocket.

The next page is a pocket sewn from a large Irish linen napkin; I stitched a beautiful, double doily to the front of the pocket, and decorated it with some pretty metal buttons.

Then I printed out an antique postcard -- a view of San Francisco's Cliff House beachfront -- onto a piece of transfer paper, transferred it to a bit of muslin, and sewed that to the top of the page.  Above it I pinned the most breathtaking tiny spoon pin, which was a gift from Suzanne; it says, "San Francisco 1948" and I think it is SO PRECIOUS!  San Francisco is my hometown.

I trimmed the bottom of the page with the last bit of fancy pearl trim I have, as well as the last of my heavy crocheted drapery trim.

Here's the back cover; again, the same fabric I used in one of the pages of Jeanelle's book -- it is so whimsical!  I sewed three wonderful brown buttons to the edge of the trim.

Here's a bit of detail I loved from the front cover; it's that French laundry tape in my initials:

Finally, a few photos of how the button cards look in their new home:

 

It was a very satisfying project!