So, here I was threading my sewing machine, an Elna Lotus SP, older than I am, to start sewing the shirt, but it refused to work. This had happened before, I took it to be repaired, but, I don't know what happened, the technician took a long time to repair it, and didn't do it properly and didn't fine tune it. He used to be a very good sewing machine repair man, but he did a very poor service to my poor, poor machine. It was in Lisbon's historical Mouraria neighbourhood, it since closed and is now a (probably really tiny) hostel.
What to do? I was planning on wearing this costume on the big Carnival cosplay meet, the Cosplay Photoshoot, and I don't have that much time to finish it, and no money to have the machine repaired. And first I have to find a new repair man anyway.
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| wire stems for the three working buttons; the button base in plastic and felt; the cover circles in the cherry red grosgrain. |
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| modern 18th century covered button in two stages, uncovered & covered |
So I decided to cover the buttons. the more enduring task ahead. Using the plastic+felt discs as a base, I followed Burnley & Trowbridge's button tutorial, cut the fabric circles with a bit more than dounble the discs width, and sewn them in place. For the three working buttons, I decided a bit of reinforcement could be nice, so I glued, with epoxy E6000 glue, a stem made of wire, and then gathered the fabric on top, like all the other buttons.
+ Making these buttons was much quicker and easier than expected, I think I'll never buy coverable button pieces again. These work fine and don't take that much longer or effort to make.
- It's a big drawback my sewing machine being broken, I hope I can get it fixed, it's been a very long relashionship, I love my Elna!
THE CUNNING PLAN
Finish covering the buttons for now, and pattern and cut all that's left, so I can pop into my mom's or a friend's house and sew everything in one go. Think of a plan B?
[written in 29.11.2020]
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