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Home » DIY Tutorials » DIY Crafting » Crafting: No-Sew » Sewing Tips: making Cover Buttons, without a kit.

Sewing Tips: making Cover Buttons, without a kit.

 

Be sure to check out my latest review and giveaway, the Epione Beauty Brush.  This little gadget is a cordless facial/body brush that gently scrubs away makeup and other impurities. It also “massages the skin, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.”  Not bad in my book!

. . . . .

 

 

Have you ever used Cover Buttons? 

 

They are little metal parts that you cover with fabric and press a back piece on, creating little Cover Buttons.  Look familiar?

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Here are a few projects where I have used Cover Buttons:

 
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tooth fairy pouches, Mary Poppins boot covers, fishy purse

 

 

I use them occasionally…….and usually have a stash of them.  But sometimes I run out.  Ugggh.

 

And those little Cover Button kits only have so many sizes.  They’re not super expensive but if you need a ton of them for something……..they get pricey.

 

How about an alternative?  A much cheaper alternative.

(Sorry cover button companies, I was kind of getting tired of buying your kits.)

 

 

 

Use fabric scraps and your button stash.  Or buy a handful of the “Odds ‘n Ends” buttons, at the fabric store.  Or purchase some cheapy-cheap buttons at the store.  The price of cheap buttons cost much less than the cover button kits.

 

 

 

Now you can make big, little, and in between cover buttons.  In whatever color you need for your project.

 

 

 

 

The front is nice and smooth and perfectly covered in the fabric you want.  And the back is bundled up and tightly sewn.

 

 

If you have covered flat buttons, they can either be glued right to your project or carefully sewn to your project by grabbing pieces of the fabric that’s on the back of the button with your needle and thread, as you attach it to your project? 

 

However, if you are still wanting the shaft that comes on the back of the Cover Button Kit pieces……….you can cover a button that has a shaft on it.  Same outcome.

 
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Now you don’t have to stop what you’re doing and run to the fabric store in the middle of a project, because you forgot to buy a dang Cover Button Kit.  Problem solved.

 

 

And since I have a button stash and plenty of fabric scraps, this didn’t cost me one penny.  Love that.

 

 

 

Would you like to make your own Cover Buttons?

 

 

You’ll need some fabric scraps and some buttons.  Whatever sized buttons that you need for your project.

 

First, cut out a circle piece of fabric that is larger than your button.  Each side of the button will need to fold up and around to the back of the button and almost meet the middle of the button.  You don’t want the edges to come all the way to the middle (or more) because then you’ll have a big mass of fabric on the back side of your button. 

 

Then, if you’ve ever made fabric yo-yo’s, the next step is the same.  You knot your thread and start weaving your needle in and out of the outer edge of your circle (on the wrong side of the fabric), until you make it all the way around the circle.  The smaller your weave, the better the outcome.  The bigger your weave, the messier it will look when you cinch it in.

 

Place your button back in the center of your circle, then pull your thread.  It will cinch right around the button, creating a nice cover for it.  Knot the end, keeping the cinched in fabric nice and tight.

 

Now, if you want to cover a button that has a shaft on it, cut out a piece of fabric the same way.

 

And if your button has some texture on the front that you don’t want to show, cut out a piece of felt that is the same size as the top of your button.  Then lay it down on the fabric before putting your button on there.

 

Then cinch it up and stitch it tight the same way.

 

 

And that’s it. 

 

A super cheap way to make Cover Buttons.

 

 

Ashley Johnston

Administrator at Make It & Love It
Ashley Johnston is a professional DIY costume maker, sewist, crafter, and owner of Make It & Love It. She is a mom of 5 and a wife to a very patient (with the craft clutter) husband. In case you’re wondering, she always chooses crafting/sewing/designing over mopping/dusting/wiping base boards……but bathrooms/laundry/full bellies are always attended to. Whew!

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Hi, I'm Ashley

Hi, I’m Ashley—the DIY-enthusiast behind this crazy blog!

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