How To: Felt Eyeball Buttons for Halloween

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought I'd squeeze in an extra tutorial this week... how to make fun felt eyeball buttons!

 

I used my buttons to customise an old cardigan - perfect for adding a spooky touch to an outfit this Halloween.

Felt buttons are quick and easy to make!

You will need:
- small pieces of black felt (for the pupils) and blue, green and brown felt (for the irises)
- matching sewing threads
- soft white felt (30% wool blend felt is perfect for this) or white fabric
- 22mm cover buttons
- a button covering tool (optional, but very useful! I use the Prym universal button covering tool)
- a needle and a pair of embroidery scissors
- the circle templates at the bottom of this post

If your cover buttons are a different size to mine, use a pencil and a compass to draw your own templates for the pupil and iris.

To add the buttons to a cardigan you will also need.... a cardigan, matching sewing thread and some pins. If you want wear the cardigan more than once, make sure you choose washable (synthetic) felt when making the buttons!

1. Use the templates to cut out one white eye from felt or fabric, one black pupil and one coloured iris.

2.  Place the iris and pupil in the centre of the eye and sew them in place with matching threads. Sew the pupil in position with a small X made from two stitches, then sew the iris with a line of small running stitches. Trim any excess thread at the back.

3. Now follow the instructions on your pack of cover buttons (or look online for a how to) and cover a button with your decorated circle of felt/fabric. Using a button covering tool makes it much easier to snap the front and back of the cover button together and the holes in the tool I use are very helpful for checking that the decoration on your button (in this case, the pupil and iris) are in the centre.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 to make a selection of eyeballs with different coloured irises. If you want you could also add some red stitches to the eyes for a bloodshot effect.

To add your eyeball buttons to a cardigan, first remove the original buttons (apologies for the low quality of some of these pics, navy blue is a real pain to photograph!).

 

The buttons on most cardigans are likely to be much smaller than the large eyeball buttons, so the eyeballs won't fit through the buttonholes. Because of this you need to turn your cardigan into a jumper (sweater) by sewing the front together (make sure the neckline of your cardigan is large enough that it's easy to take off and on again!).

Pin and then sew the front of the cardigan shut, using matching sewing thread and small running stitches. Make sure you don't sew the front and back of the cardigan together!

 

Then use a double thickness of sewing thread to sew on the eyeball buttons, sewing them securely in place through where the old buttons were. I left off the final button at the bottom as I preferred how it looked with just five buttons.

And you're done! :)

Click here to view the template sheet in another window/tab, and print it at 100%.

You may borrow a couple of photos if you want to blog about this project, but please remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my tutorial on your site. Thanks!

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Lots of Crafty Goodness in my Shop!

Pssst - I've added a whole bunch of stuff over in the Craft Supplies section of my shop...

There are wheels of rainbow pins in leaf, heart and flower designs:

Bundles of colourful ribbons I'm clearing out from my craft stash, including lots of pretty polkadot ribbon:

Some fun sheets of printed felt - in camouflage & zebra prints:

And remember when I was making all those felt buttons back in March...?

Well, I've finally got them photographed & added to my shop, hurrah!

There's also one last set of "not quite perfect" giant buttons (and lots of "perfect" giant buttons too)...

 ... and a whole bunch of other "destash" listings, including buttons, hat elastic and grip seal bags (which are super useful for packaging or for storing small supplies or pattern pieces).

And remember, there are still lots of handmade goodies available in my SALE section... sale prices start from just £1. Click here to see the full range of treats in stock.

More Buttons, More Destash Bits & Bobs

I've been busy making more felt buttons - they are so addictive! I'm planning on putting some packs of these together & adding them to my shop in the next week or so.

I've also been busy listing some more "destash" craft supplies, including colourful buttons...

... felt beads...

... felt ric rac...

... and lots of useful bits and bobs like grip seal bags:

You can find all the destash supplies HERE.

I've also listed some sets of "not quite perfect" buttons...

... and this afternoon / evening I'll also be adding some more bargain bundles of "not quite perfect" felt squares HERE. UPDATE - the felt bundles have now been listed, hurrah!

Unfortunately, with all this photo-taking and listing, I totally forgot about the embroidery thread giveaway! Oops! I'll pick a winner & announce it tomorrow :)

DIY Cover Button Kits

New in my shops this week - supplies for making your own felt or fabric covered buttons!

Here are some buttons I covered earlier, using scraps of felt from my shops:

I'm selling two sizes of plastic cover buttons (15mm and 22mm)...

... and awesome button-covering tools which you can use to easily press together cover buttons measuring 11-29mm. The back of the packaging features traceable templates for cutting out your felt or fabric, and diagrams to show you how to use the tool.

I'm selling cover button starter kits from my Etsy and Folksy shops (a button covering tool plus 20 cover buttons) or you can buy the button covering tools and packs of 10 cover buttons individually from the craft supplies section on my website.

If you prefer to shop via Etsy or Folksy but would like extra buttons added to your order, please send me a message before you buy and I'll set up a special listing for you with the amount you want.

Giveaway: Felt Buttons

Like felt? Like buttons? You will LOVE this month's giveaway!

Up for grabs is a bundle of colourful felt buttons...

... 29 buttons in total.

I made the buttons myself, using plastic cover buttons and wool blend felt in lots of bright colours.


They'd make great additions to lots of craft projects, but I'd recommend using them for something that won't be washed and like all buttons they shouldn't be used when crafting with very young children.


As always, I'm happy to ship internationally, so anyone can enter. Just leave a comment on this blog post for a chance to win! (If you're reading this on my Facebook page please click through to my blog to leave your comment on the original post).

Leave your comment before 10pm on Wednesday 10th August and I'll pick a winner at random on Thursday 11th August.

Please make sure you leave a name or pseudonym (no anonymous comments please!) and leave a blog link, twitter username or email address so I can contact you. If I'm unable to contact the winner within a week, I will pick someone else.

UPDATE: this giveaway is now closed!

New: Flower Crowns and Felt Buttons

A mere two months after I finished them (jeez louise!) I've finally started listing my nature-inspired "Flower Garden" crowns over in my Etsy shop:


I'll be adding the rest over the next few days - if there's one you've got your eye on which isn't yet listed, send me a message and I'll reserve it for you :)

Over on my website, I've added some sets of yummy felt buttons to my craft supplies section:


Each set contains eight buttons, all handmade by me using plastic cover buttons and the lovely soft wool blend felt I sell in my shops. There are only two sets available at the moment, but I may make some more in the future [UPDATE: the felt buttons have now been sold]

Making Buttons

Today I've been making some felt buttons.


(Updated) Some extra info, for those of you interested in making buttons for your own crafts!

The buttons are made with plain cover buttons which snap together, you can press them together by hand but using a tool makes it much easier. I use a universal cover button tool (pictured above) , you can use it for pressing different sized buttons together, and the packaging also helpfully came with templates drawn on it for the size of felt/fabric you need to cover each size of button.

The wool blend felt I sell is perfect for covering buttons, but remember only to use them for things you won't be washing! I don't sell button making supplies in my shops but your local haberdashery/sewing-supplies shop will probably stock some.

Here are lots of felt buttons I made a couple of years ago - be warned, making these is quite addictive!


The turquoise buttons I've made today are going to be used to make some felt flower brooches & hairbands, like these:


I love the lilac and turquoise colour combo, but if you fancy something a bit different you can now order custom versions of this design - in any colours you want!