Selecting Buttons

I thought I'd share my process for choosing buttons, based on the process I went through with the cacti top. This is pretty much how it plays out everytime I make something with buttons. It's easy to amass a button stash, probably even easier than with fabric. Buttons are smaller after all.

Maybe you do something similar, but I found that taking pictures with the digital camera really added something to the process because the various choices can be compared side by side. The first picture above shows the green buttons I thought were a perfect choice at the fabric store because of their color. Well, yes, the green is a perfect match--such a perfect match that you can't even see them. Off to the stash with them.

The next set I tried was from my button stash. They're clear with a texture. Somehow, they're both too blendy and to detailed for this fabric. Back to the stash.

OK, plain white buttons. They go with everything, right? Well, yes, they're OK. But maybe too much contrast. At this point, I'm beginning to feel like Goldilocks.

At last, a winner! As an afterthought, I had picked up some watermelon pink buttons at the same time as the green ones. I figured that they wouldn't go but they could always be used for something or the other. That just goes to show you. They go with the print but don't overpower it.

I'll be using the digital camera for this sort of testing a lot more in the future, and it was such a good technique I just had to share.