If you’re one of those people that snip buttons off clothes before you reuse the fabric you’ll probably have a button tin or jar of assorted colours and sizes. Or maybe you’ve bought a bag of buttons from a charity shop or car boot sale thinking there must be something you could do with ‘em!
Large single buttons that’re decorative can easily be turned into fridge magnets with a small magnet and a blob of strong glue. Or you could glue a brooch back onto an especially pretty one, or glue buttons on to a plastic hair-slide.
A cheap cardie – one of Primark’s acrylic numbers – can be dressed up with a new set of buttons, and it’s surprising how much difference that can make. With a plain black cardigan I tried a Boden-inspired trick of using 3 different coloured buttons, and it definitely looks classier now. Cheap coats always look miles better once you’ve replaced the nasty, equally cheap buttons.
You could make earrings too, but I’ve turned a mass of buttons into bracelets. Initially I made a multi-coloured bracelet with quite large chunky buttons, but it didn’t feel comfortable on my wrist.
So instead I used small buttons that probably came off shirts and blouses. I kept to a ‘white’ colour scheme, but that actually encompassed cream, ivory, pastel pinks and blues, even a few darker buttons. One was made with memory wire and a simple fastening, and goes around the wrist a couple of times. With the memory wire I probably didn’t really need the fastening, but it was a kind of belt & braces approach.
The other bracelet was made with stretchy plastic ‘fish wire’ that you’d get from any craft shop or ebay.
You can use a large eyed sewing needle to help thread your buttons on to the plastic wire, and keep putting it around your wrist to check the length required. Decide if you want a fairly loose bracelet or one that fits quite snugly. The trick to keeping your bracelet intact is to tie at least two very tight, firm knots in your wire once all the buttons are threaded on. You don’t want it to come loose and have buttons fly all over the floor.
Other great projects for buttons could include pearly king and queen style designs with lots of white and cream buttons sewn on to a black background. Or red, white and blue ones could be glued onto a piece of artists canvas to resemble a Union Jack flag. (Wilkinson sell cheap squares of canvas stretched over a wooden frame.)
Large single buttons that’re decorative can easily be turned into fridge magnets with a small magnet and a blob of strong glue. Or you could glue a brooch back onto an especially pretty one, or glue buttons on to a plastic hair-slide.
A cheap cardie – one of Primark’s acrylic numbers – can be dressed up with a new set of buttons, and it’s surprising how much difference that can make. With a plain black cardigan I tried a Boden-inspired trick of using 3 different coloured buttons, and it definitely looks classier now. Cheap coats always look miles better once you’ve replaced the nasty, equally cheap buttons.
You could make earrings too, but I’ve turned a mass of buttons into bracelets. Initially I made a multi-coloured bracelet with quite large chunky buttons, but it didn’t feel comfortable on my wrist.
So instead I used small buttons that probably came off shirts and blouses. I kept to a ‘white’ colour scheme, but that actually encompassed cream, ivory, pastel pinks and blues, even a few darker buttons. One was made with memory wire and a simple fastening, and goes around the wrist a couple of times. With the memory wire I probably didn’t really need the fastening, but it was a kind of belt & braces approach.
The other bracelet was made with stretchy plastic ‘fish wire’ that you’d get from any craft shop or ebay.
You can use a large eyed sewing needle to help thread your buttons on to the plastic wire, and keep putting it around your wrist to check the length required. Decide if you want a fairly loose bracelet or one that fits quite snugly. The trick to keeping your bracelet intact is to tie at least two very tight, firm knots in your wire once all the buttons are threaded on. You don’t want it to come loose and have buttons fly all over the floor.
Other great projects for buttons could include pearly king and queen style designs with lots of white and cream buttons sewn on to a black background. Or red, white and blue ones could be glued onto a piece of artists canvas to resemble a Union Jack flag. (Wilkinson sell cheap squares of canvas stretched over a wooden frame.)