Button Obsession!

Eleanor has a button obsession. If you are wearing something with buttons, Eleanor will be on you in a flash. Buttoning, unbuttoning. She can, at times, button for hours. I know because I have been the victim of such marathon buttoning. At church yesterday, my friend wore a dress that buttoned all the way up the front. She went home and changed so that she could still have Eleanor sit on her lap without danger of exhibition. And later when she saw the back of a cute little baby's dress "I like her buttons." Yup, totally obsessed. So, I have been pondering how to give Eleanor something to occupy her little fingers besides the shirts and dresses of unsuspecting friends. It took me awhile to figure out how to do it, but once I had a plan it only took a few hours to make it. This is half of a 3-ring binder. (I destroyed a lot of perfectly good things today in my quest for the freedom to wear buttons, but it was free and it is exactly what I wanted, so it was worth it!) I put this inside of the bag to make it sturdy so it will be easy to button, snap, tie and zipper against. You can also flip the bag over and use it as a base for coloring on since it is so sturdy now.I started with ties because Penelope has just learned how to tie her shoes, so this will be fun for her too. The material for the bag is left over from a chair that I re-upholstered in El Paso. So cute! Next layer is a shirt with snaps on it. I used shirts and a jacket that we already had to make each layer. It took me awhile to get over having to cut up perfectly good shirts for this project. Buttons! Sweet Buttons!And a jacket zipper. I put a velcro closure on the inside at the top so I can take out the binder piece and machine wash it or add other items if I want to. I can also store paper, pencils or other items in the inside since I made it like a bag. It was Aaron's idea to put the strap on it so she can hold it like a purse. Brilliant honey!
And a very happy little Eleanor. As soon as I gave it to her she figured out that the jacket on front has pockets and she is stashing all sorts of treasures in it.