Hello all, Mary Ellen here.

Yesterday I was finishing up a purse I made recently and needed a button embellishment. The way the designer had us complete this purse caused the metal prongs of a magnetic snap to show on the outside of the purse. In her sample she was able to sew on a button with the thread going through a hole in the center of the magnetic snap. Well, as Murphy’s law would have it, my snap doesn’t have those holes. I had originally sewn on a button with the thread going diagonally under the button to avoid the snap. Of course that did not work as planned. The metal edges of the snap’s washer kept cutting the threads, even the dental floss I used the second time I sewed it on. So I was in search of plan B.

I have also made the tote bag design included in the pattern, and hid the snap prongs on that with a large yo-yo. That is working fine, but I wanted something different on the purse. I recalled from my days of sewing clothing a technique for making what we called singleton buttons. Couldn’t recall all of the details of how to go about it, so I resorted to my favorite reference these days…the internet. And I found a nice tutorial at CraftStylish. Do you remember having a sweater years ago that had buttons made of rings that had been covered with yarn in one way or another? Those are called Dorset buttons and the singleton is a variation of that. If you make purses and totes and would like some unique embellishments, for much less cost than those large buttons we buy, give these a look. (how to make singleton buttons) and (Dorset buttons)