No, I’m not going to loose those 10 lbs (okay, maybe it’s more like 15) I should this year, or start a new exercise regimen. I’m not going to quit smoking (just yet anyway) or even save the whales… This year I’m going to do my damnedest to save myself some moolah and be a little greener in the process.
Now normally I’m not a huge spender, but neither am I a big saver, however this year my hubby and I are planning on buying our first house and boy am I FREAKIN’! Naturally this is going to cost us mucho dinero and to free up as much money as possible I realized my typical expenditures on art and craft supplies were going to have to be cut WAY down. This is when I realized that as a side effect of my Scrooge-like behavior I would actually be able to get a little greener with my crafting. If I’m not buying new supplies I’ll have to start using found objects, thrift store finds, and I’d FINALLY get around to using stuff in my stash! So this year I’m hoping to bring you a lot more crafts made on the cheap and hopefully inspire a few people to think a little greener by recycling that old junk into awesome accoutrements!
To start off I thought I’d share a mini-tutorial of my new button bracelet- made at no cost to me!
UPDATE: Click here to download this tutorial.
The Supplies:
Iron
Scissors
Yarn
Buttons galore
Craft Felt
Iron-on Interfacing
Needle
Black Thread
Measuring Tape
Okay- so the first thing to do is measure your wrist. Mine was about 7 inches so cut two pieces of felt about 6 inches long (leaving enough room for a “clasp”) and about 1.5 inches wide.
Next, cut out some of the iron-on interfacing, making it slightly smaller than the pieces of felt. This will help stiffen the bracelet. Iron interfacing with the bumpy side down onto the felt pieces according to the directions.
Now it’s button time… I started with the largest of the buttons and sewed them on first using the black thread. Then I picked out some medium sized buttons and scattered them around the bracelet and sewed them down. Finally I filled in as many gaps as I could with the smallest buttons.
Now that you have a pretty cool mess o’ buttons you’re going to need a “clasp” of sorts. I figured the easiest way to go about this was to create a yarn loop on one side that could be looped around a button (or two) to close the bracelet. Using a larger needle I threaded the yarn through the felt on the back of the bracelet and tied a knot that will be hidden on the inside.
Finally you need to sandwich the two sides to complete the bracelet. My original idea was to blanket stitch around the outside of the two halves with the white yarn, but after a few stitches I found that it really detracted from the buttons. Instead I used the black thread to stitch the two sides together. I’m sure fabric glue would have worked just as well, but going out to buy fabric glue is not really holding with the spirit of the project (or my New Year’s resolution.)
Voila! A pretty & kitschy bracelet made with stuff from my stash! I chose white buttons because that’s what I had the most of, but just imagine the possibilities: “studded” bracelets with metal buttons, mosaic images in teeny-tiny buttons, or just a riot of rainbow colors. How fun is that?
-Lyzard
