Craft Crossing
Clever/keen ideas for crafters
Book Titles Clock

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:

  1. Once Upon a Time
  2. Goody Two Shoes
  3. The Three Musketeers
  4. Four and Twenty Blackbirds
  5. The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
  6. And Now We are Six
  7. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
  8. Eight Cousins
  9. Engine, Engine Number Nine
  10. Toby Tyler: Ten Weeks with a Circus
  11. The Eleventh Hour
  12. 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!

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