Quilted hoop clock with book title buttons
This quilted clock was a gift for someone who loves children’s literature. I followed a great tutorial over at a.squared.w. The only changes I made were:
- Lining up the hours on the seams instead of the centers of the sections.
- Using foam core rather than wood for the back. (Which I do not recommend — my clock is not nearly as sturdy as the original!)
- Adding the covered buttons representng children’s books and stories.
My local recycled craft store had a lot of vintage covered button kits for 25 cents each. If I had not found those, the project would have been rather expensive — the kits are not cheap! You can buy them at fabric stores.
To make the buttons, I found images of children’s book covers and used my ink jet printer to print them on photofabric. I have tried several different brands of inkjet-printable fabric, and now won’t buy anything but the Blumenthal brand (no one is paying me to say that; I’m just a big fan of the product.)
As I said, the recipient of the clock loves children’s literature, so I found book titles to represent each of the twelve hours:
- Once Upon a Time
- Goody Two Shoes
- The Three Musketeers
- Four and Twenty Blackbirds
- The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
- And Now We are Six
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Eight Cousins
- Engine, Engine Number Nine
- Toby Tyler: Ten Weeks with a Circus
- The Eleventh Hour
- Cinderella (obviously referencing the fateful midnight clock chime)
Overall, the project was more difficult than I originally expected. In particular, it was tricky to do the quilted clock face and to install the clock movement. I have since seen some fabric clocks online that are made from a single piece of cloth, with buttons to represent each hour. That would have been way easier.
Having said that, I absolutely love the look of the quilted clock.
If you know someone who always thinks it’s time to read, this would be a fun and appropriate gift!
