Contents Highly Addictive

Today I'm bringing home a fun no-sew project I shared for Bugaboo Mini, Mr & Me's hand-made gift series. Hand-made gifting is tricky territory and from experience they can fall into one of two categories: Awesome or Popsicle-Stick-Photoframe. Since taking up the sport of cover button hair pinning I've made and gifted, hmm, close to thirty sets. I'm pretty sure each time the 'wow' has come before the 'did you make that?' which we all know is the best case scenario for a hand-made gift. For something that takes less than five minutes to put together, they look pretty un-handmade when you're done. Plus you get to do some scrap-busting in the process. Make them pretty or funny or yummy but head this warning: once you pop...

...you wont stop! 

The set up

For this easy project you will need flat back self-cover buttons (regular buttons have a shank back and won't stick to your pins). Each button is made up of a round smooth piece which becomes the front of the button (bottom right) and a flat piece which presses into the back (bottom left). A range of sizes work well for this project, these buttons here measure 28mm in diameter but I have also used the slightly small 23 mm (cute for small florals). If you were making earings / studs you go smaller still. The tool you need to make your buttons (top left) is made up of a 'pusher' and a 'holder'. Depending on where you source your flat-back buttons, the tools may come included or can be bought separately. The easiest way to get started, in my opinion is to buy a 'kit' with the buttons, tools and hair pins included. Etsy is a great place for all the self-cover buttons you could ever want for and I got all the buttons / tools / glue / pins you see above from here.

 You will also need hair pins with a 'glue pad' and you can choose between silver, brass or bronze. I've used both the brass and the silver and they both add something different. Once again, Etsy is a mecca for 'hair pins with glue pad'. Now, a word on glue. E6000 is the BEST and you could be lucky enough that your local craft dealer otherwise you can get it online. Which is the case for me and I ran out after the last button making festivities so here I'm using some regular craft glue, which does the job but E6000 it gives the best results and the strongest hold. This is the perfect project for using up those scraps, small prints work well and if you are low on those you can started out buying scrap bags just for this purpose on Etsy. 'Kawaii scrap bag' wields awesome results!

Find a little spot of magic on your fabric with cover button potential....

Cut a rough circle around this part that is approx 3/8" bigger than diameter of the self cover button. 

You can see here the size of the fabric circle in relation to the button...and no biggie if it's not a perfect circle, we will trim later.

Place the fabric circle face down over the 'holder'.

Put the smooth round side of the button face down on top of the fabric.

Press to the bottom and let the fabric curl in around itself.

If you have any extra long sections you might want to re-align the fabric up and try again (only important if trying to center a print) otherwise just trim of the longish part.

Grab a flat piece and place over the top, tucking all the fabric in underneath.

Place the 'pusher' over the top and press with all ye might until you feel a little 'pop' (hopefully not you).

Push that baby out...

Naaaawwww! It's a dog!

If you're making a pair of hair pins, follow all the steps again up to this point. You could even play with a little narrative and pair a girl and a dog, a cat and a bird cage etc.

Place a dab of glue onto glue pad and press firmly onto back of button.

 Leave to dry.

Poke some holes in a piece of card, wack them on, gently and that's it...the perfect hand-made gift, made with love and scraps.

But don't be surprised when you feel the urge to make a few...

...hundred more!