TUTORIAL: Button Covers

This is my first tutorial, so go easy on me. I'm not even sure how much of a need there is for a button cover tutorial, but I thought I'd give it a shot since I was making them and they're fairly easy. I know my camera is horrible, so it's a good thing that the pictures are fairly simple anyway, because they're all blurry.

Materials
• Button
• Fabric
• Scissors
• Needle & Thread

Instructions
Step 1Begin by cutting a piece of fabric in the shape of the button and about twice the size. In this case, we're using a circular button.

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Step 2(Sorry this picture is blurry.) Set the button aside and begin sewing around the edge of the fabric. Thread your needle in whatever fashion you like, just be sure that it's knotted at the end. Personally, I measure thread from my face to the end of my arm, thread it, and tie the ends together. This is usually enough thread for most hand-stitching projects, and having the thread doubled over makes it stronger.

Start from the inside (the "wrong" side of the fabric that you do not want showing), and keep your stitches close to the edge. Make sure your stitches aren't too close together, or this won't work. Generally, they can be about a pinky finger's width apart, but with varying sizes of fingers and buttons, it may just take some practice and guessing.

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Step 3To make this go by quicker, you don't need to pull the needle all the way through after every stitch, you can let the fabric bunch up at the base of the needle.

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Step 4When you get about one-third to half-way around the circle, or when there's too much fabric bunched up on the needle to make any more stitches, pull the needle through so that the knot in the end of the thread is against the fabric.
NOTE: If you wait too long to do this, you will not be able to pull the thread all the way through, it will get stuck on the fabric. It may take some practice to learn when to pull the thread through, it also depends on the thickness of the fabric and the strength of your thread.

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Step 5Once you stitch all the way around, you can begin to tighten the edges and put the button inside. I like to end my stitches going outward (toward the "right" side of the fabric that you want showing).
Tug on the needle to make the fabric into a pocket (make sure it's right-side out!) and set the button inside. You'll want the button to be face-down.

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Step 6Pull the string completely tight. The fabric should close over the button. Don't pull too hard, or the thread can break, and the fabric can rip. Just pull until you get resistance and the fabric is closed over the button.

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Step 7Not for the somewhat tedious part. (I think I lost my photo for it too.) You're going to stitch back and forth over the bunched-up fabric to both make it stay together and flatten it out some. I usually stitch up through one "lump" of fabric, then across the button and down through another lump. Then it's just back and forth until it's mostly flattened and closed.

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Finished!And that's it! You can then sew your button on to whatever you like, using whatever method that you wish. These particular buttons were used for hairpins. They were attached by just sewing horizontally through the bottom of the button and around the bobby pin.