Fabric-Covered Button Hair Ties {a tutorial}

Have you ever explored the world of fabric-covered button hair ties on Etsy?  I’ve spent lots of time admiring them and even bought several kinds for my daughters.  But I wondered, how could I make them myself?

Actually, it’s quite easy!  All you need to purchase is a button covering kit from Joann’s or your local sewing store and some hair elastics.

Picking the kit is the most intimidating part of the entire process, which one do you choose?  There are so many options!  I suggest going with either a 3/4” or 3/8” button covering kit for your first go-around.  They retail around $4 for the most basic kit that includes 3-5 buttons depending on the size you pick.  More elaborate kits come with shank backs and blank backs.  Just remember, you will need a kit that has shank backs, so check to make sure the kit says “shank backs” or has a picture of them and that it is NOT a refill kit.

So you’ve got your kit, your scissors, a marker, and scraps.  You’ll also need hair elastics.  I prefer the larger circumference thin elastics.  You can also use the thicker elastics, but that involves removing the wire from the shank back, which I’ve never had much success with.  The smaller or larger circumference thin elastics are easy to use.

The most recent kit I bought did not include a plastic template for cutting the fabric.  Instead, the pattern was on the cardboard back of the case.  Cut out this template.

The plastic template on the left is included in some button kits.  I recommend this over just the paper template.  I’ll show you why.

I tried to line up the semicircle over the center of the red turtle I want centered on the button.  After tracing, I flipped the template over and traced the other half of the circle.

And here’s what my circle looked like.  Not too bad, but the turtle isn’t exactly centered.

If you can find the kit with the plastic template, you can dead-center the turtle in the middle of the template easily.  Trace around the outer circle.

Here’s the difference.  The top circle was made with the paper template, the bottom circle was made with the plastic template.

Now the fun part, find the two parts to your button—the front and the back.

You can see here the front of the button fits snugly in the mold.

Insert your fabric right side down and press in the smooth side of the button top.  Fold in the excess fabric.  No gluing is needed.

Then press your back into the mold so the shank is on the outside.  Grab your pusher…

…and press hard.  It might help to do this on a flat surface so you can put some weight into it.

And voila! A fabric covered button will emerge when you push it back out of the mold.

Now the easy part!  Pick an elastic and thread it through the shank.

Pull one of the loops through the opposite loop.  It doesn’t matter which side you pick.  Pull tight.

And now you have a custom fabric-covered button hair tie!  You can make a pair if you wish.

Have fun looking through your fabric to see what other small prints you can use to make more.

Then make as many as you can for your daughter, granddaughter, next-door-neighbor’s daughter, person at work’s daughter, cousins, birthday party favors, etc.

When you decide you want to make even more, take a look on Etsy.  You can buy large volume refill kits for a fraction of the cost at a conventional store.

If you have any questions about the tutorial, just leave a comment or send me an email.

Linen + Shamrock Table Runner {a tutorial}

You will need:

• green scraps to make shamrocks
• 1/4 yard linen
• 1/4 yard background fabric preferably linen
• 1/2 yard backing
• batting scrap at least 11” x 30”
• fusible web of your choice (I used Lite Steam a Seam 2)

Use a 1/4” seam unless noted.

1.  Download & print the template for the shamrock.  Lindsey Weight of the Fort Worth Fabric Studio blog kindly let me borrow the link.  You will need the smaller template for the table runner.

2.  Trace the template 5 times on fusible web.  Following manufacturer’s directions iron the web to the wrong side of your green scraps.  Cut very carefully around the shapes you traced.

3.  Cut five 5.5” squares from your linen.  Peel off the paper from the back of your shamrocks and arrange them on the squares how you like.  Press them to bond into place on the linen.

4.  Set your stitch length a little longer than the normal 2.5 for piecing.  I set my machine to 3.0.  Straight stitch close to the edge of the shamrocks to permanently stitch on the linen.

5.  Cut five 2” x 5.5” and five 3” x 5.5” rectangles of background fabric.  Arrange your 5.5” squares in a row how you like them.  I alternated the shamrock orientation.  Sew the rectangles onto the top and bottom of your 5.5” squares so that the squares appear to move up and down.

6.  Press all your seams open and you can use some light starch or Magic Sizing to help set those seams open.  I found that the linen seams didn’t stay perfectly flat without a little spritz of Magic Sizing.

7.  Sew your blocks together and press those seams open.  Add a 2” x 9.5” strip to each end of your runner.  Press those seams open, too.

8.  Press your runner really flat.  Now baste it however you prefer to your piece of batting.  I used a little bit of spray adhesive or you could use safety pins. 

9.  I hand quilted big stitches around the perimeter of the center section.  One nice thing about this runner is you don’t need to bury your threads because you are quilting through the top and batting only.

10.  Once your runner is all quilted, square up your runner & batting to approximately 9.5” x 28.5”.  Place right side down on the right side of your backing.

11.  Using straight pins, pin the top/batting to the backing all the way around the perimeter.  Then I used a long ruler and rotary cutter to trim off the excess backing.

12.  Using a walking foot, sew a 3/8” seam around the edge leaving a 2.5” opening for turning your runner.  Clip off the corners making sure not to cut through your stitch line.

13.  Turn right side out.  I used a chopstick to push out the corners of the runner.  Press the opening closed as perfectly as possible so you can’t even tell there’s an opening.  Press the entire runner as flat as possible.

14.  Using the walking foot, sew a 1/8” to 1/4” seam around the edge of the runner. 

That’s it!  Sewing this runner took about 3 hours, including almost an hour to do the handstitching.   Happy St. Patrick’s Day!