Looking for a cute, new accessory? Or perhaps a whimsical gift for a friend who loves to sew? Or just a quick craft that turns out something sweet to decorate your neck or your wall? Have I got a fun activity for you!

I caught a glimpse of a woman wearing a necklace with buttons on it recently. I didn’t get a good enough look at it to see any details, let alone how it was made. I thought to myself, what a cute necklace for someone like me, an avid sewista! I figured with a little ingenuity I could come up with my own version.

All this craft required of me was my daughter’s help in choosing some buttons from my button jar, along with a little needle-and-thread action and some patient focus.

Read on for the simple tutorial.

Let’s sew an easy necklace of buttons

Materials:

  • measuring tape
  • buttons of various sizes
  • embroidery floss
  • needle
  • {optional assistant for choosing buttons}

How to make it

The first thing you’ll need to do is decide on the approximate length you’ll want your necklace or garland to be and choose your buttons.

I made my necklace just over thirty inches long. I used a not-so-precise method of measuring out about thirty-one inches of buttons, by lining them up on the table next to my measuring tape.

Similarly, you’ll want to measure out your embroidery floss. I used two strands of floss. Measure your floss to be double the length of your necklace and then add about five extra inches or so.

Sew through the first button and tie a know around the holes on one side as shown above to secure the end of your thread.

Next, you’ll begin sewing the buttons together.

Simply go up and down through either both holes on a two-hole button or across two holes on a four-hole button. I laid the sewn buttons flat on the table as I went to keep the running thread on the bottom of all the buttons as I went.

Continue right on to the next button– up in the first hole, down in the second, and then right on to the following until you’ve strung all your buttons.

Then, you’ll begin going back the other way, through the same buttons and holes again, but alternating from the way you stitched it the first time through. Now, you’ll begin to see the running stitch going across the top of the buttons, as you go down in the first hole, back up in the second then across to the next button.

This will connect the buttons with a thread on both sides to help keep the buttons from sliding around too much.

It’s a little tedious to keep the buttons from flipping around or your thread from getting caught. You might need to eat a snack to help you focus, like I did (mmm, peanut butter on a banana). I was able to lay the strand across my lap once I had sewn the buttons the first time, while I worked on going back through the other way.

At the end, connect one end of your necklace to the other end by sewing through the button holes a few times and tie off the embroidery floss with a knot… or leave your strand open and hang it as a cute garland.

The whole thing took me about ten to fifteen minutes.

Ta-da! Perfect for a sewing enthusiast like me.

I hope you like it and enjoy trying this quick craft. I’m more of a project-starter so it sure feels good to finish a project. Are you good at starting and finishing projects? If you’re more like me, you might like to feel the accomplishment of something quick and cute like my button necklace. 🙂