I first got the idea of making these buttons from Sarah Fordham of Magasin. I’ve since seen some other cross Stitchers who make them, but I hadn’t even realized such a thing existed. After some quick googling I found that Joann Fabrics sold a kit to make them for just a few dollars. They had a ton of different sizes but I went with the 1 1/8″.
I’ve had these for months and the other night I decided to finally make one. I knew it wouldn’t take long, I was able to finish this up during an episode of Walking Dead. I used a flower motif from one of the patterns in the Japanese cross stitch book I got at Mitsuwa last weekend and it stitched up so fast. I’ve been saving small scraps of Aida for this very purpose and I went with really bright colors on black.
Making the button itself was intimidating but it was a lot easier than I expected. Pushing the button into the mold required some brute force, but I showed it who’s boss. I’m not really sure what my plan is for the button, but I want to make more!
I tried making a little button with Aida using the same pack, but i ended up bending all the backs and they wouldn’t go on! I think my stitching went around the edge though, so maybe it was just a little too thick. Around here they also sell a similar pack that has blanks for the back (no button hole) so it’s easier to glue on other things — pin backs for example. Maybe you could also play with putting the button on a cross stitched piece?
I had a hard time with the size. I cut out the template circle, but the actual stitchable area is much smaller. I want to play around more and figure out exactly how much space I have.
I like the idea of putting it on a cross stitched piece. I also thought it would be a cute hair bow or headband for my daughter.