Button Bracelets Tutorial

I'm not sure how many people want to make one of these but I think they're great, and with Christmas coming up I thought it might be a good present to make for kids and big kids like me :-)  I'm going to make another in red and green.

First things first then, you need some stuff.  Hopefully you have most of it in your crafty stash!  If not then what better excuse to go shopping, but as the idea of this is to recycle why not see if you've got anything around the house.  Old clothes you can cut the buttons off?

1 :: Buttons
2 :: Elastic thread

I bought mine from the Rubbish Revamped ladies because I suspected I wouldn't get out to buy any, but you can get probably it in any decent craft shop or on the tinternet

3 :: Scissors
4 :: Something to hold the end of the elastic.  I'm using little wooden pegs (because they're cute) but paperclips would be just fine

Start by cutting your elastic thread, I used about 25/30 cm because your thread needs to weave in an out of the buttons and you need to tie it off, so it's probably more than you'd think.  Secure the end with your peg/clip.

Now for the real fun...  Start choosing your buttons!!

I already made a medium sized bracelet so I'm going to pick out the smallest ones but you can choose whatever you want.  Alternating sizes look pretty cool.

Most buttons have four holes so you want to thread diagonally across these, like the dark green button on the end.  Make sure you thread from the back as well, unless (as I found) some buttons are actually prettier on the back, then thread those from the front instead.

Another tip, if you want your buttons to alternate in colour like this, you need to thread two of the same colour at a a time; red, red, green, green.  If you thread red, green, red, green you'll get all your red on one side and all your green on the other, but this is equally as lovely.

My favourite thing is picking out interesting buttons.  I love this ♥  You can also layer two buttons together like this for a centre piece (makes a great ring too).

When you're done snip both ends until they're the same length.  Another tip, if you want to keep the length but one side is longer than the other, slide some buttons off and put them on the longer side

Now for the hard bit...  Knotting!  I hate this bit, I found it quite hard, but no pain no gain?  You'll want to hold the two pieces together and do an 'overhand knot' rather than a shoelace type knot because it will probably come undone and then there'll be buttons everywhere.

But now you're done!

You can blob some clear nail varnish on the knot if you want just to hold everything together

Wear, enjoy, make yourself a brew and congratulation yourself on being a master of craft ;-)

x x x x

Rubbish, Revamped!

Yesterday I went along to a series of drop in workshops run by a group called Rubbish Revamped who were training some of our WI to make things out of pre-used, pre-loved and pre-worn stuff. Their motto is 'Reduce, Reuse, Revamp, Recycle' and they're a fabulous bunch of ladies who seem to be able to make anything out of anything!


My first workshop( and the one I was most looking forward to) was button jewellery ♥

I bought along some of my own Papermania buttons in red and green, the same I used for my upcycled skirt.


I can't rate these buttons enough! For £3 you get so many! I quite like that lots of them are patterned or have writing on them so you can end up with something quite funky.  I've not been paid to say that, but Papermania if you're listening feel free to send me more ;-)


I was quite excited by my creation! I've told J at least three times, "Look I made this!!" and he's humoured me so far. I hear though that there are people out there who have button phobias, and can't stand anything with buttons on them! I can imagine that would make life quite difficult. Jeans? Nope!

I bought some of the elastic so I could make more at home.  It probably only took 15 minutes and that included getting a cup of tea and chatting.  I like short therapeutic projects like this!


Moving on I started on making something called a Suffolk Broach. You only need a tiny scrap of fabric and a button for this project and it's pretty simple as well. I went for fabrics that clashed a lot but it seemed to work bizarrely.  You can make them into badges or hair pieces, anything really.  Smaller puffs make good necklaces and rings too.


I found that absolute perfect button to sew onto the top of mine, see how it's a bit like the fabric puffs?


There was also a do-it-yourself table with scraps of paper and punches of different shapes. Who'd have thought that the inside of envelopes could be so interesting! Next time you get a bill have a look, you might find something useful :)


I made some paper bunting out of the heart stamps in two sizes and it fits nicely on my greenhouse ♥

Now we weren't just learning how to make lovely things out of recycled materials, no! The ladies at Rubbish Revamped were also giving us tips on how to train others you see, because we're going to share these skills with the world*!

*maybe just a little part of it

We're probably going to run some sessions next year but it occurred to me this morning that I could also share it online with you! I need better light so I think I'll have to wait til next weekend so I can take photos as I go, but if anyone is interested then come back soon :)

x x x x