Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial
How To Make A Button Tidy For The Sewing Room
What you will need:
LOTS of buttons! I used 165 13mm wide buttons - wooden and plastic or resin buttons seem to work just as well as each other for this. I wouldn't pick lots of different sizes though as it leaves much bigger gaps just filled with glue plus it can be harder to line up the corners with a big surface area to glue.
Epoxy glue. I love the version made by gorilla glue because it will hold it's position much quicker than some of the budget alternatives I've tried. This makes it much easier to create the final shape.
A surface epoxy glue wont stick to. I use an old silicone baking sheet.
How To Make It:
First, arrange your buttons pattern side down on your silicone sheet. I made 4 panels of 5x7 buttons and for the base 5x5 buttons. You want the buttons to be as close together as you can to give it the most strength.
Epoxy glue comes in 2 parts. When they mix together, it starts off the setting process. The gorilla glue comes in a really easy to use syringe that pushes out equal amounts of both at the same time. Make up only enough to cover 1 panel at a time. This stuff sets quick and if you don't work fast enough, you'll find it becomes stickier and doesn't spread as easily for a smooth finish.
Mix it thoroughly before you use it. The glue comes with a little wooden sticks, but feel free to use this as your excuse to buy ice lollies for extras!
Now comes the fun part... trying to give your buttons a good coating all over without just spreading the buttons around. Don't forget to work quicky. It's much easier to try keeping the buttons together than to try to push them back when they are all starting to set apart.
Once you have a good coating on the backs, drip a bit of extra glue in the gaps in between to fully cover between the buttons.
Leave them to fully set. I left mine overnight to make sure that any that were still not quite set would have no chance to go saggy when I stood them upright.
Next you want to arrange your pieces upright into their final position. Swipe across the edges and balance them where you want them to go. I used some jars and tins I had lying around to help them keep their position. Once you have them all standing up you may need to give them a slight jiggle to get them all looking straight and even. This is why I prefer to glue them all at once.
I wanted to reinforce the corners so I added some extra glue down the corner edge and a little over the top of the corner too.
Then leave it to set before deciding what you want to fill it with. As you can see it is perfect for all the sewing bits and pieces that tend to clutter up the sides. It would also work fantastically for putting all the thread scraps in instead.
Then push all your clutter out of the way so you can admire your new button tidy before it gets lost under scrap fabric and sewing patterns!!!
Have you had a go making one? What do you use to put all your sewing bits and pieces in, and your thread scraps? Don't you think it would make such a cute handmade present?
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