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Colourful DIY Button Necklaces

2 September 2014  |  Nicola

Handmade button necklaces

Handmade blue button necklace

Making your own accessories is always a great way to add a unique twist to an outfit, and there are a huge range of craft materials that work well as pieces of jewellery; from shells turned into rings to simple beaded pendants and statement necklaces made from leather off-cuts, the possibilities are pretty much endless. Today, we’ve got a couple of simple tutorials which will show you how to turn simple buttons into three different bright and colourful necklaces.

Button necklace tutorial materials

You Will Need:

Buttons in various colours, patterns and sizes

A few beads

Needle-nose pliers

Jewellery chain

Embroidery thread

Thin elastic

Ribbon

Felt

Sharp scissors

Large embroidery needle

Strong fabric glue

Method One

The first method involves sewing the buttons together with thick embroidery thread, so they all stay in the same place to create a large, statement necklace. It can be tricky to get them to all stay in the same place, so if you find they pop out once you’ve finished sewing, just add a little glue to the edges so they stay together.

Beautiful wooden buttons

1. Lay your buttons on a flat surface, and organise your design, then thread your needle with embroidery cotton.

2. Decide which button you’re going to start with, then insert the needle through one of the holes, and stitch as you would do if you were sewing a button on, then move onto the next one and repeat the process. The stitch that joins them together should be on the wrong side, so you get something like this:

Stringing wooden buttons

3. Work your way around all of the buttons, making sure that each one is joined to those next to it; you might end up going over the same one a couple of times, but it doesn’t matter.

4. Once you’ve sewn everything together, you need to attach the elastic that will make it into a necklace; thread your embroidery needle with the elastic, and stitch onto one of the top buttons. Fasten off, add some beads to sit above the buttons, and then repeat for the other side. Your necklace is finished!

Method Two

The second method creates another statement necklace, but is much quicker and easier – this is a great project if you’re creating last-minute accessories for an outfit.

Laying out the buttons

1. Choose your buttons, and organise them into a nice design on top of a sheet of felt.

2. Using some strong fabric glue, fix each button in place, then set aside and allow to dry thoroughly.

3. Once dry, cut around the buttons using a sharp pair of scissors, then discard the rest of the felt.

Statement button necklace

4. Attach some ribbon to the reverse of the necklace using the fabric glue, and leave to dry.

Method Three

More of a pendant than a necklace, the last version involves turning the buttons on their sides so they look like coloured discs  - what’s even better is that this doesn’t take more than about fifteen minutes from start to finish.

1. Choose your buttons – we went with clashing bright colours, and also an ombre version, but you could do anything from bold single colours to stripes or repeat patterns. Varying the sizes of the buttons also changes the look of the necklace, so make sure you experiment before deciding on a design.

Stringing bright buttons

2. Thread your buttons onto a length of jewellery elastic, and add some beads to either side to finish it off nicely. Secure with a knot, and wear with pride!

Zesty handmade button necklace

StickyTiger craft supplies
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