Maybe this will explain my Material Culture focus...

I know the patterns haven't even shipped yet, but I can't stop thinking about what materials I want to use for my patterns. For the blouse and skirt set, I know I want one half to be patterned with the other half solid, so I have a nice mix and matchy costume idea going on (and then I can make a separate blouse or skirt to match other half - genius!). The dress, on the other hand, I have no idea. The pattern illustration is making me think a lot about how it appears to be a knit fabric, which would be nice for everyday wear. I think it will probably depend on my choices for the blouse and skirt set.

But what I am all of the sudden really excited about is buttons!!! Yep, the blouse will require a few of them, so I kinda want to go all out with them. I've done plain boring buttons for much of my sewing career, and I want to branch out and pick some colorful, contrasting buttons for the blouse this summer. I did a little too much diving around the etsy site (oh the joys of summer vacation) and found lots of lucious listings for buttons. Here are my favorites:

Candy-coated polka dots

Strawberries that look too good to eat.

Yummy candy buttons - they look almost like sugar!

Oh my goodness, I could probably post even more, but I don't want to bore you. Watch out in my next post for an exciting second (but spontaneous) summer project.