How to Make a Button into a Pendant - DIY Jewelry Making Tutorial by PotomacBeads

Intro: Overview of the project [Music] hi everyone I'm Ally and I want to show you today how to work with fun vintage buttons and create them into a pendant buttons really vary in size and shape and I'm going to show you not only how to do the buttons but how to do a fun bail as well too using a new Stitch that you might not have checked out before if you need any materials want to check out our vintage buttons go below the video in the description and you can click links there to get back to our website gather up your materials 11s and 80 seed beads and let's get started all right so Step 1: Introduction to the materials and setting up the workspace. we are talking buttons and when we're talking buttons we are talking how to make a button into a pendant there are so many vintage beautiful beautiful buttons floating around you probably have a tin or a box of them somewhere and it can be hard to go in and to know how to bezel a button because they have different heights and thicknesses they're different sizes some are a little bit thinner some are a little bit thicker sometimes that shank goes out really far you don't want it to poke in your neck so we're going to show some problem solving and how to work to create a button working with it to be a pendant I'm also going to do the bail and show you how to do that nice bail so watch to the end what we're going to be doing is using Hubble Stitch this is a lovely Stitch created by Melanie D Miguel and we are going to be using a certain number of Hubble units per button eight 18 mm 11 24 which is this one here it's going to be about 13 units as you get bigger 28 14 units every 4 millimeters you go up you're going to basically add another unit when you're working with it now this varies because you might have a button that's a little bit off so number one you want to grab a ruler and you get about a Baseline and then you'll measure as you go I'm using this beautiful uh blue a shimmer one here it's about 18 mm so I know I have about 11 units we have tons and tons of these V vintage buttons and it's fun to see kind of what you can create we're going to be using 11 OC beads and a couple 80 to get started and it's going to be the same process no matter what size you're just counting and changing the amount of the original Hubble units as it gets bigger you may need to do more units as we build up but right now we're going to do how we get the back basically started we're going to do the Hubble units and then we're going to combine them and we're going to see how it sits on the sh tank itself usually by the time you do a couple units even if you need to build one more up that's easy so to start out we're going to do some Hubble Stitch so to begin our Step 2: Starting the Hubble stitch to create a bezel for the button. Hubble Stitch we are using again 11s and eight I have on my thread and needle size eight Dragon thread in the white color and about 4T of that I'm letting it drop down to the base of my thread and then I'm going to add a third bead which is my ad80 which is going to be my base bead I'm going to go back up through bead be number one toward bead number two and that's going to create almost like a herring bone Stitch if you're familiar with that where our 11 O's kind of sit fanned out in a vshape towards the top the 8os along the bottom the reason I'm using the 80 is because it's a little bit bigger to go around that shank that button shank in the back from here I'm going to add one more bead each hble unit consists of four beads so I'm adding one more bead I'm coming out of bead number one I outed add a bead and I'm going down bead number two this is one Hubble unit so it uses four beads like right angle weave but it looks more like a herring bone Stitch and they sit disconnected so we're going to do our next unit 1 2 11 O's followed by 1 80 we let it guide down next to the beads that we just put on and then you're going to sew back up through bead number one and out so you're sewing through bead number one toward bead number two pushing that all down next to the last unit see how they're pretty much just disconnected they're just hanging there by a thread that's normal we're going to add one more 110 as our fourth bead to our unit coming out of bead number one and we sew down bead number two I always like to call these as I'm making them these look like foosball players that kind of are just on a line and we can spin and we can move all different ways what will happen while you're doing this is it will move while you're working on this first row in all different ways so don't worry if it's kind of flipping and flopping that's okay three beads go on two 11s eight so back through bead number one toward bead number two and out pull that thread and needle tight push it down next to the project you'll notice I'm pulling here and not at my needle that's going to prevent your thread from fraying between beads 1 and two add bead number four that is three units and I've got seven or eight more rather to go to get to 11 to get ready to go around my button once you have your Hubble units Step 3: Expanding the bezel to accommodate the button size, with problem-solving tips. in place here and I have a total of my 11 units on again those foosball players sometimes the bottom wants to go to the top and vice versa we'll get it sorted out so 11 units is what I'm going to use for this 18 mm sized button with that shank I'm coming out of the bottom of bead 2 from the last Hubble unit and what I'm going to do is to go back to the first Hubble unit I'm going to go into bead number one right at that start thread of that first Hubble unit pretending like I don't even have the beads there we're almost just basically starting another Hubble unit skip over bead number four and go through bead number two that really kind of locks it in place and then you're going to come out through the bottom through bead number three so now you can see kind of you have a messy Circle what we're going to do is we are going to flip it so that all of the Foos ball players pants are down towards the interior so all those eights are towards the interior what this is doing is forming a nice little Nest to hold in that button when you're looking at the shank if you don't have a button with a shank and just has holes you probably can do one more unit because you don't have that back that you're worrying about what we're going to do now is go in and we are going to add one 11 o between each one of our bottom beads from our Hubble Stitch so I'm coming out of an eight I add an 11 onto my needle and then I go into to the next eight add an 11 on and I sew in to the next eight so I'm just picking up all of those 8oc SE beads get our starter thread out of the way here tuck to the bottom don't want to sew through that and you're just repeating this the whole way along the line what this is going to do is going to get ready for us to do another Hubble unit or nutting kind of talk you through both as you go in and basically problem solve as you're working with a button cuz they're also lovely and different so here you can see it's starting to lay a little nicer where I've gone through and added the seed beads between each that those are all going towards that Center that's going to create that back here that sits again a little bit higher for you to have that shank in going around here just going to continue adding in 110 between each one of my eights forcing that to behave and sit correctly and if you need to again if it's towards the outer edge you just kind of fold it towards the middle to get to the interior and see how that's forming a nice Loop in circle I have one more once you add your last one you're going to go back through that same 80 and I sew over just a little couple units and come out one of the8 O's on the opposite side side what that does is really close up that Loop and see how it's sitting already kind of in that nice bezel shape this also just to let you know 11 is the count for 14 mm Rubble if you want to drop that in so see how we're not really on the outside it's pretty much going to sit almost even with our button here cuz our goal is that these beads sit up and when you turn it to the side they almost work flat and flush with that bead cap or with that uh bead shank what we're going to do now is a second Hubble unit and the second Hubble unit we're coming out of one of our we're going to sew into bead number one from that Hubble unit so the 110 right after that eight or sitting right on top and then we're also going to sew through bead number four which is always going to be the points of those Hubble units from here we're going to start our next Hubble units so our next couble units we're going to increase in size slightly so we are going to use the sixes as beads 1 and two bead three is already there bead three is our 110 seed bead that we're coming out of sewing through that sits up here I'll turn it this way so you can kind of see that sets up bead number one and number two going to the side this time remember it's the 80 I'm going to go back through bead number one we're going to add an 110 and we're going to sew down through the 80 SE bead number two now what do we do next one and two of our go on because that's our next Hubble unit beads one and two we sew back through bead number three toward the last Hubble unit bead number three is the top of the unit below it so you're grabbing on to the top of that bead I add two beads I sew back toward the unit I just finished I go through bead number one I give a nice tight pull I add an 11 o and I sew down through bead number two I'll do that one more time for you you're adding one and two new you're sewing through that point or that fourth bead from the Hubble unit below toward the last Hubble unit you just finished so it almost feels like you're sewing backwards that lays those sew up through the first ad0 toward the second eight that opens those up and we're switching back to an 110 for bead number four and down bead number two and that's it we're going to continue the whole way around the 11 units adding in 11 more units sitting stacked on top with beads one and two being the eight bead three being the point from the unit below and bead four being another 110 seed bead added when Step 4: Adding a second row of Hubble stitch and forming the button setting. you finish the 11th unit here we need to connect unit number 11 to unit number one just like we did to start that beginning circle to connect them what we are going to do is just like we did with the beginning circle we're going to pretty much ignore the fact that we have the beads already on there and pretend these are new beads adding bead number one which would be that first 80 so we're sewing coming out of unit 12 or 11 sorry going through bead number one going through bead number two going through bead number number three which again is that bottom 11 that we're sharing this time cuz we're going to be building up rather than connecting the base we're going back through bead number one again just like if we were building a new unit and out through bead number four and there we go so now you can see you almost have that little bowl or that little cup so our button going to sit right nice and in the interior there if you get done and your button is sitting a little bit funky you can always use 11 O's at the base if you want I like the 8 O's again cuz it sits up a little bit now you can see we have a nice base for our button to sit inside you can do one more Hubble unit which is what we're going to do if your button is really really really thick and you're like oh man this is crazy thick or crazy high that you need to do you can do another second unit with the same size beads it's up to you what we're going to do is switch it up just slightly so we're coming out of that Hubble I'm just kind of pressing the bead there so you can see it a little bit better we're coming out of that Hubble through bead number three basically of the next unit we're going to use 1 and 2 11 O's so back through bead number three CU remember we're always going in reverse when we add the extra units we're going to go up through bead number one and bead number four that we add is going to be an 11 o bead and that gets us the units closer here now it's going to be a stretch from one to the other so we are going to add in an extra bead I know you're like what are you doing here we're adding in an extra bead so what that extra bead is going to do is allow us basically to have the space from one to the other so we're switching now and we're going to add an 80 CB in my sample piece here if you want to I added just some netting because it was a really thin button so I just went in and I added a netting right away of two seed beads 115 no two seed beads I'm going to do on this one one more row of Herring bone 18 180 gets added on after I finish that Herring bone unit we're going to pretend that that bead's not even there next I'm starting my next unit so I'm going in and I use two 11 O's I sew back through the fourth bead from the unit below there catching onto it that 8oc bead just kind of hangs out there in the middle and I'm going back up through bead number one that 11 o that I added adding an 11 o on the top and coming down through the next bead I'm going to take my button out but I just wanted to show you kind of what that looks like and how that's going to fit around them so once again in between the units I'm adding 1880 letting it chill and hang out from here one and two 11s back through the fourth bead or the bead that sits at the top of the Hubble unit below go back through bead number one toward bead number two it's a little awkward at first not to get that 80 connected into the thread add one more 11 and on to the next so that's it so you're going to do a whole you unit row around where you're doing the same thing adding an 80 seed bead two 11s after the 80 is not part of the Hubble Stitch it's just there so back through be number one and you'll notice it'll start to kind of cave in a little bit add an 11 CU we're making basically the ridge to our bowl and continue on with your units so when you get done with the end Step 5: Transitioning to the right angle weave to create the bail. of your row you're just going to continue into that interior here and again connection acting like it's not even there sew through bead number one so through bead number two not bead number four which is right there at the top that pulls it nice and tight in sew through the base bead which is the 110 from the row below it back up through bead number one and then out through bead number four of this first unit now one thing I did not articulate well um at the beginning of the video I apologize is you may be wondering why Hubble Stitch so I'm using Hubble Stitch because it is a super forgiving Stitch you have that extra little space in there where you have the thread it kind of stretches and goes along with it so it's not like a ravoli with a Delica bezel where you have to fit it exactly so I find this to be really easy to use to go around anything where you're not exactly sure how you're working with it also that top bead on the Hubble Stitch unit is perfect to go in and to create any sort of Fringe or sorry any sort of netting to go in and wrap around so it kind of becomes problem solving towards the end of the button and you think how am I going to cinch this in and bring it together Hubble stitch has that beautiful top where you have one bead right at the top ready to go to bring it together whether or not you say hey it's still sitting a little high let me do some netting netting refers to just basically creating beads and then capturing and connecting them so along this one here one 12 11s 115 1 12 11s were captured onto my thread and then I'd sewed through the next upper bead here and then pull that even more together what we're going to do is once again kind of pull this together around the button and we are going to go ahead and use an 11 o seed Bean pulling that in toward the middle nice and tight now I'm doing this live or as I'm doing it because I want to show sometimes you need to undo this last row because it's just not sitting and cooperating correctly and you need to switch it to a different bead or you see too much thread so play around with me as you're going into this last row of your beads connecting the Hubble Stitch we're creating a nutting if your bead sits high and if this doesn't work we go in and we say okay let's add two two beads or maybe you switch your 11 o to an 80 this really is when you're working with a button don't get don't get frustrated you are problem solving so I'm going around all of the beads number fours right now seeing how 1 110 sits between all of them how much thread I see cuz the Ridge and the cut of the button can be totally different from one to the other so if you have an 18 mm its profile might sit way higher to see exactly how it fits I'm going back through some of those 11s that I just added right there as well as the 11s that I was catching on to and now here's time for the magic you give a nice tight pull and see how it responds I push those other beads out towards the exterior I look at it and I say okay how much extra space am I seeing how is it fitting along my butt Buton fits well there along the edge but I still see a lot of space here on the interior so what I'm going to do is I'm going to take my needle and thread off I'm going to pull out that last row and I'm going to switch from one bead to two beads sometimes it's really great to see this problem solving as you're working with it because again it can be unpredictable when bezeling and that's again why I love the Hubble Stitch because it's super forgiving that you can play around with it so I'm going to go ahead in and put two of my seed beads between each of that fourth bead of my last Hubble Step 6: Finishing the bail and attaching the cord, final tips for the project. Stitch now that I've got those two beads in between it sits so much nicer you did that nice pull I always feel like I'm doing magic when I do that final pull of my thread and see how the button just sits ever so nicely right in the interior and the 8 O's along the side actually add a little bit of flare to it that I like pulls a little bit of that blue color all right so now that I have that Center fit I want you to make sure that you're taking your thread and needle back through all of those beads right at the center one more time anytime you have a Revol or anything that you're capturing basically or putting that it's got to be held in it doesn't have a hole nothing sewed through it you always want to make sure to do two threads it also makes the line a lot nicer what happens if you need it to be just a tiny bit tighter you can go through the two seed beads that you just added skip over the 11 o and add a 15 o in between that's another version and now what we're going to do is we're going to work our way out towards the exterior and we are going to get in there a nice bail the bail we're going to be doing is a right angle weave bail so we're switching from Hubble Stitch to right angle weave and I'm going to sew towards the exterior now I'm coming out through one of those interior fourth beads I'm going to sew back which would be through bead number two I'm going to come out then bead number three which would be one of those connector beads right there at the top from here we're going to start our bail so our bail is going to sit where we start one unit of Hubble and then we go right into right angle weave so one two bead I'm going to go back into that same bead which is going to be the third bottom Hubble bead there and then going up through bead number one I am going to add bead number four I'm going to reinforce this going back down through bead number two back up through back through bead number three back back up through bead number one and out bead number four as I come out bead number four this is when we switch from our Hubble Stitch to our right angle weave and if you've never done right angle weave before it's simple one two three beads go on I'm coming out of that top bead there on my Hubble I'm going to sew in through the opposite direction I'm going to go up through the next bead and I'm going to go out so I'm out the top again one two three beads go on this time my threads coming out the top of that bead I'm going to go into the bottom I'm going to go through whichever bead lies on the side whether or not I'm on the left or the right and then I'm going to come out through the bead that sits at the top of the bail I want you to do this let's see here one two three four five six so we're going to do this three more times to get a decent size bail so I did my sixth unit of right angle weave here and I'm going to connect to the back so remember we have two Hubble units that Stitch or that sit right on top of one another we're coming out of Hubble unit number two in our second row we're going to go back into Hubble unit number one and we're going to go into be number four of that first Hubble unit what that does and my thread is coming out the left side there of that top bead I'm going to go into the left side and to the right and then I'm going to sew back through that last bead of the last right angle weave unit that I did so we're just circling around and connecting there I'm going to connect there one more time going back through reinforcing and now we're going to go up and down so right angle weave we have beads that are sitting on the right side and beads that are sitting on the left side with their holes going vertical horizontal beads are the ones that are as we build the bail up we're going to go through the first bead on that left hand side we're going to add an 11 o on and we're going to go through the next bead on the left hand side add an 11 o in go through the next speed so we're capturing and connecting all six of these right angle weave units to make this nice pretty Bale when we get back towards the starter side we started out with Hubble Stitch and because we did that we get almost a nice vshape bail because we're not going to be adding one on there so here we are basically back at the start we're going to add one bead on we're going to go back into that Hubble unit on the right hand side we're going to go through that base 11 o of that Hubble unit it's getting a little tight you might need to do a little wiggle or switch to a thinner needle so you don't break that bead now what we're going to do is go up through bead number one of the Hubble Stitch and then we're going to connect the other side of our Bale so we're going to go up and just connect right along the edge and I like the way that this Bale looks at the top of a pendant you can use it on any because again it almost looks like that triangle pinch bail look if you're familiar with those I'm just going right down through that extra side of my right angle weave stitch do you have to do this no the right angle weave Stitch or you can just do your Hubble Stitch over and over again when I get to the back here I use my last bead go into the unit reinforce one more time along the back here so into the base which is going to be that original Hubble unit so into that Hubble Stitch and right down to that starter row as I go to the starter row here I'm sewing right back along right till we get to the thread end grab those two thread ends tie them into to a nice knot along the back of the button so you'll never see it grab your threads up or your thread burner burn off those thread edges burn them flat down towards your project and when you burn those flat down towards your project then you don't see them at all and see how nice that bail is just going right into that Loop by the time you put on a cord or something that's going through it you even see it nicer and really really finished and up so the fun thing with buttons are they make beautiful pendants it is really problem solving when it comes to working with these depending on how many units you start with what the pattern is how the netting goes so again here's the 11 units 13 units 14 units approximately for the different ways that you can do a a bezel I could go in here add some crystals add some bling make it gorgeous but I just want you to have those fundamentals of how you're going in starting with that Hubble Stitch which is going to pull back towards that shank there and continuing on with the design thanks so Outro much for joining me in creating these bezel buttons to create pendants you can also do this with Seaglass you can do it with found objects as your hiking or making memorabilia or seashells it's really great to use that Hubble Stitch as the base and kind of problem solve as you go looking at the depth of the piece and how much you want to come around it hopefully you loved the bail as well too and if you want to see more videos don't forget to hit that subscribe Button as always you can join our Facebook group for beating and jewelry making and join in this amazing pic beads Community thanks so much for watching pic beers and stay tuned for more inspirational designs