Button Bracelet Tutorial

You can use any buttons that you have and they do not have to be all the same size. For this tutorial I am going to use a range of blue buttons.

All you really need is some 5mm ribbon and some buttons. You could have a bracelet clip as well to make putting on and taking off the bracelet a little easier, but use what you have.

Then line up the buttons in the order that you would like to be on your bracelet.

I then cut a length of ribbon about 45cm long. This may seem a bit too long but you then need to cut the end of the ribbon at an angle to form a little point to help get it through the holes in the buttons. You may well need to keep re-cutting this point as you make the bracelet so the ribbon will be shorter anyway.

So come up through the first hole in the first button and then back down.

Pull the ribbon so that it lays on the top of the button. Then take the ribbon up through the hole of the next button and down again.

Push the two buttons together so that they are sitting slightly one on top of the other.

This is what it should look like on the back.

Continue to add the buttons in this way. For the centre of my bracelet I decided to layer two buttons one on top of the other. This would look really good if you had a particularly large button and layer a couple of smaller ones on top. Again, you have to experiment.

Here I have continued to add to the bracelet after the centre buttons were added and this is the back again.

At some point you should check the fit of the bracelet. You really need a bit of a gap between you and the bracelet.
Now you could just tie the bracelet on or use a clasp like the one shown above. These can be found in most sewing or craft shops. Or recycle one from a broken piece of jewellery.

To be honest I was not sure how to add this so I decided to tie the ribbon on and then seal it with some dabs of clear nail varnish. If I make some more I shall probably think of a different way, but this has worked well.

Above shows another bracelet that I made in shades of brown. I also made a little pink one for Sophie but this time I used shiring elastic, as a clasp would be too fiddly for her to put on and take off.

Know, I have been singing the praises of buttons for years, but I think that I may have gotten through to my students as we ran a little session on how to make these. Here are some of the results.

I would like to make a really bright funky version of this but I will need to source the buttons for that idea.

Give it a go and let me know if you use this tutorial as I would love the see what you make.

Happy Sunday to you all.

Take care.

xx