Arts & Crafts Buttons?

KittyBag

Settling in...
Mar 28, 2006
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We all have them.. those old jars or tins or cigar boxes full of Grandma's buttons! I am guilty! :rolleyes: I love buttons a ton and have gobs of them. Anyone here use them for any crafts? I have lots of buttons and would love to make them into something.

Ideas?
 
You can embellish a plain sweater by making the buttons into some kind of pattern or design. Think "mosaic" not all necessarily the same size or color, but when put together look good.
 
If you make handmade cards, buttons are a great embellishment. You can also make fabulous rings from them with a little elastic and some beads.
 
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If you're into sewing, there are all sorts of folksy quilting patterns out there for wall hangings etc on which you can use buttons. I am personally not that into "folksy" quilts but I did take a class once in which we made a little wall hanging and the best part was finding unique buttons to use! In fact I never finished the quilt but I bought a lot of really cool buttons which I still have. Before I became a designer bag snob I had this little black crocheted purse with originally a wooden button, but when the button came loose I replaced it with a very beautiful pale green ceramic leaf button which I had found in a fabric shop in San Diego.

Anyway, here is a link to some quilting books:

http://www.colonialcrafts.com/manufacturer/Quilt_Books/1174/10
 
Oh, I want to try the button ring too! I'll have to see if I have some elastic!

Look at these cool examples I found (images from http://sewbettie.bigcartel.com/)

buttonrings.jpg


buttonrings2.jpg
 
If you make handmade cards, buttons are a great embellishment. You can also make fabulous rings from them with a little elastic and some beads.

You can also work with wire when you make a button ring. It's not my style exactly, but I watched a really cool video on YouTube on it. It looked pretty fun once it was done!
 
I'm going to get a black cheap purse or clutch or jacket or something and, once I get enough buttons (I'm collecting them), I'm going to cover the whole thing with buttons! I think a button-covered clutch would be adorable!
 
I forget who posted them but someone used some anchor buttons (or were they pins?) to make a gorgeous pair of earrings!

I think big buttons are super cute on hats and gloves too... you could put new buttons on a coat too, switch it up a bit and make something old look fresh again!
 
I've seen wire bracelets made with old buttons. I've also seen a framed cross stitched Christmas tree and the stitcher used a collection of old family buttons to adorn the tree.
 
I'm going to get a black cheap purse or clutch or jacket or something and, once I get enough buttons (I'm collecting them), I'm going to cover the whole thing with buttons! I think a button-covered clutch would be adorable!

That sounds really cute! I only have one clutch from Target of all places, that is black satin (I'm really not a clutch person). I might go through my mom's button stash- she has two big tins and play around.

I have no buttons b/c I kind of hate to sew- part of the problem is that it does not come natural to me and I struggle. Maybe if I had more patience and started out w/ an easy pattern/project... I have a machine that is perfectly fine, it is operator error.