Finding the perfect button for a sewing project is not always easy. Why not make your own buttons? Choose your favorite fabric and make fabric covered buttons! You just need some small scraps. And with a button kit at hand you’ll see that assembling the buttons is very easy. It can be a fun craft project with a child as well! I will show you step by step how to get started.

With these buttons you can personalize any sewing project. You can use the same fabric to match the buttons or you can make your button stand out and use different fabric.

I decorated some of my fabric scraps with little flowers to give the buttons some texture and I made a couple of cute ponytail holders with them. The flowers are stitched with my regular sewing machine and a flower stitch foot.

These fabric buttons can really add a cute punch to almost anything. Whether it’s clothing, accessories or home decor items. Use them to spice up your wardrobe (old cardigans, purses, coat). Or attach them to shoe laces, flip flops, shoe charms, hair ties, tie-back for curtains, cushions...

To make a button, you'll need:

• A fabric cover button kit: parts for the buttons + 2 tools (a mold & a pusher tool)

• Some lightweight fabric scraps
• A pair of fabric scissors
• A temporary fabric marker
• Also helpful: A template to cut the fabric

1. Cut the fabric: use the template or cut a circle twice the size of the button top

2. Optional: Stabilize the fabric with interfacing and/or add batting or use a double layer of fabric. Don’t cut the extra layer too big, cut the extra layer the size of the button top. The edge of the fabric has to stay as thin as possible.

Center the fabric over the mold (this is a tool that comes with the kit), wrong side up & center the button top above the fabric & the mold. Gently push the button top into the mold, using your fingers. The fabric should gather up around the button top like a little pouch.

Tuck the fabric into the button top, than cover it with the button back

Firmly push the button back into place with the pusher tool, which means the entire button pushes down into the mold. You can usually hear a small snap when the back seats against the shell.

Remove the button by pushing on the bottom of the mold. Don't pull it out by the shank.

I embellished my yellow cotton with some navy blue flowers. Let me show you how!

Did you know you can sew circles with your regular sewing machine? There is a perfect little tool for this. It’s the flower stitch foot.

It still surprises me every time how it turns my basic sewing machine, a Brother Anniversary, into an embroidery machine... Well, I’m maybe exaggerating a bit... Instead of stitching straight, and pushing the fabric forward, this presser foot turns the fabric around in circles. With different stitches & colors, you can create beautiful embellishments. I already posted a tutorial about this flower stitch foot.

To embellish the fabric for your buttons with flower designs, I have a couple of recommendations so you won’t make the same mistakes as I did, trying to get a nice result :-)

1. Strengthen your fabric with some stabilizer or interfacing before sewing the flowers on your fabric. For the large buttons (1 inch or bigger), you can use fusible interfacing and cut it out the size and shape of the button.

For the small sized buttons, I use tear-away or wash-away stabilizer because your fabric has to stay as slim as possible at the edges, that is the part that folds around the button top.

If you use iron-on interfacing, you need to position that little circular cut-out the size of the button on a bigger piece of fabric. A piece of fabric with a diameter smaller than 2 inches, will not get ‘turned’ by the flower foot. So, use stabilizer that you can remove after the flower is in place :-), for both the large and small buttons. And cut the fabric after you have sewn the flowers.

2. Positioning the flowers. On a big piece of fabric it’s not easy to position the flowers because your needle starts stitching off-center. But if you cut out a large circle (2” or larger) and you center that cut-out under the foot, the flower will end up right in the middle.

The size of the cut-out has to be at least the size of the black circle of the presser foot. This is the part that grips the fabric. If not, the flower foot won’t have any grip on the fabric. For the smaller buttons, you have to stitch the flowers on a larger piece of fabric and then cut the circles for the buttons afterwards and - as I already mentioned - use tear-away or wash-away stabilizer.

3. To change the size of the circle, you turn the thumb screw on the left side of the presser foot and move the foot left or right.

For the small size buttons (30L or 3/4 inch), you can only use the small setting of the foot (go to the minus sign on the left). For the large button (44L or 1 inch) you can use the medium and large setting (on the right) and sew two circles with different stitches.

If you’re looking for matching ponytail holders, a fabric button is a great little thing to make something cute for a girl. It’s super easy to make and the possibilities are endless!

• Just get a simple hair band, a thin one.

• Take your assembled fabric cover button

• Pull one end of the hair binder through the loop

• Pull this end through the other end across the loop and pull it tightly.

READY! DONE! YAY!

Download The PDF Guide For This Project!

Download a PDF Fabric Cutting Template!

Questions or suggestions? Don’t hesitate to send me an email: an@madamsew.com
And I’m still curious about what you are making. Share it in our Facebook group or on instagram with the #madamsew hashtag!

An
Sewing aficionado and keen sewing blogger/vlogger.
An is Madam Sew’s dedicated creative brain, writing and filming insightful, inspirational content for the sewing enthusiast.