Craft project / possible selling - opinions please.

[SWnewstart]

I'm currently knitting a farmyard playmat for child of good friend (different coloured squares etc for fields, like yellow cornfield, brown ploughed field, grass for grazing etc) then adding corduroy pig huts and a little felt sewn and stuffed barn. Would like to add poppies to the edge of cornfield and wonder how parents feel about red buttons sewn on with black thread? Would you consider it a safety hazard for the child pulling off and swallowing? (friend is happy with this by the way, but if I wanted to make more and sell at craft fairs it's a different matter). All opinions welcome!

I think I'd use red felt rather than buttons. Parents may say they feel ok about buttons, but God forbid a child chokes on a button that's come off something you sold or gave as a present. How awful would you feel?

I’d embroider the centers with wool.

Could you crochet the buttons instead? A magic circle with trebles into it, the number would depend of yarn thickness. Or use huge buttons? (Thinking of 1" across)

Lovely to have your responses, thank you. Will skip the small buttons and have a plan B. This might be the time to learn how to crochet!

If you are going to sell them they need to be CE marked. It is a legal requirement. I would also recommend getting product liability insurance if you go down this route.

Thank you for that advice Delilahbucket. I'm currently looking into the route for CE marking. Interestingly, the knitted playmat I bought at a craft market 2 weeks ago (which gave me the idea of doing a farmyard version) had no such mark/paperwork/information! Not even a note about not being suitable for under 3 years. This was a well-established, reputable craft market and the traders producing high-quality goods for sale.

The market isn't responsible for what the traders sell, the trader is, and more fool them. If they think they can afford it when someone sues them for their child getting injured them let them think that. I wouldn't have even bought from them. Just because you've seen someone else breaking the law doesn't mean you should do it. I run a handmade product business. 90% of my competition trades illegally. Doesn't mean I do though, I wouldn't dream of doing that to my customers, and I don't buy from so called businesses who aren't running things properly.

The whole CE mark thing is an EU thing - we don't really have any idea what will happen after Brexit.