12 Days of Christmas: DIY Hair Accessories
Following on from our project on the Moda Bake Shop last week, I’m so happy to share with you one of my favourite, super-quick projects and go-to gifts for gorgeous girls. You can do so much with a fabric covered button, from a simple hair tie or clip, or as added embellishments to your other sewing projects.
One button can make the cutest little gift and today I want to show you a couple of ways I use them –
Materials:
– Fabric Scraps (Mini Charm Packs work perfectly also!)
– Self-covering button and kit – these come in a range of sizes; I always have 23mm buttons on hand
– Hair Clip or Hair Elastic
Note: Most self-covering button kits will come with all the tools you need to cover your bottons – these are usually a small plastic cup just big enough to fit your button and fabric piece. They will also include a smaller cap which is used to push the two button pieces together. Several years ago I bought a handy tool which covers most common button sizes – I love having everything together, and find that the rubber cups are much easier to work with than hard plastic ones.
1. Take a fabric scrap, or mini charm square and lay your button face on the wrong side of the fabric. Many kits will include a handy guide for cutting your fabric to fit the button. As a general rule, I give myself about a half inch of fabric around the outside of the button. With a pencil trace the template from your kit, or roughly draw around the outside perimeter of the button, adding about a half inch.
2. Trim along your pencil marking, and make any adjustments as needed.
3. Place fabric {right side down} and button {button face down} into your plastic cup.
4. Push edges of fabric into the back of the button face. These edges will be enclosed with the button back. You may need to trim fabric if you find that it doesn’t sit neatly inside your button and cup.
5. Place the button back into the cup, making sure to catch all raw edges of fabric. Using the plastic cap, press firmly down on your button to clip the button front and button back together.
6. Remove your button from the cup and attach a hair clip or hair elastic as desired with hot glue or jewellery adhesives. Note: You can purchase buttons with the clip attachment already assembled. I find these are much stronger than gluing a clip to a shanked button back. The buttons with a shank are perfect for tying hair elastics to or attaching to clothing or bags.
I like to make several clips or bands, and package them up on a pretty little card for the perfect birthday or Christmas stocking-stuffer gifts. Fabric button hair accessories make great use of your novelty fabrics also – just fussy cut your motifs and center them on your button front!
Use small buttons and create a gorgeous set of earrings in your favourite prints or attach a paperclip and create some unique book and page-markers for the reader or planner enthusiast in your life!
There are so many options for using these for gifts – check out this great Pinterest search for more self-covering button inspiration!
Thankyou for joining me for Day 1 of our 12 Days of Christmas tutorials. See you tomorrow for some gorgeous Christmas decorating ideas.
Keera
x
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