Tutorial Tuesday - Button Bracelets

My girlfriend came over to refill my estrogen reserves last week, and brought with her a fantastic craft for us to do together while chatting, laughing, gossiping and catching up after her long vacation. One third of the way through summer vacation with three boys, she knew just what I needed. She brought over a bunch of stuff for us to sit down and make our own button bracelets. So fun! The greatest part was that each of our bracelets turned out differently!

Do you want to join us? Let's make some funky Button Bracelets!

Materials:

Buttons in various sizes (test to be sure your cord will fit into the holes)
Round leather or coated cotton cord (1 mm in diameter)

Instructions:

Arrange your buttons ahead of time to lay out your pattern



Begin with a length of cord about 18 inches long (you will adjust this to fit at the end, but cutting it too short will result in frustration and some swearing...trust me, I know). The more knots you intend to make the longer the cord.

Fold your cord in half and tie a knot in the looped end, like this:



Now, begin threading the cord through your button holes.

Criss-cross your cord for the 4 hole buttons like this:


The same is possible for the two holed buttons. Bring a cord up through each hole then back down the next hole like this:



You might also want to thread your button onto one piece of cord then knot, like this:


To finish off your bracelet, just pull the cord through the last button and tie in a square knot. See?



You can pull the last button through the loop at the other end to attach to your wrist.

Now, go crazy! Try to be random and mix it up, stack some, knot some, criss-cross some, there is no right or wrong way to do this! Get creative, girl!

You might end up with something like this:



Or simple shell and wood buttons look like this:



Or you could go nuts and work in some beads like this:



Now, gather some buttons, call up some girl friends, set the kids into the back yard to play, and have some fun!





PS (JoAnn's has some bags of fantastic HUGE buttons with HUGE holes for the little ones to get in on the act. It will be a HUGE relief to use these buttons for them.  A bloggy friend suggested dipping lengths of yarn in clear nail polish and twisting. Once dry, they will thread easily for the kiddos.)