Making a Button Letters Canvas
Simple techniques for stunning results
You don't have to be particularly crafty to make a gorgeous button letter canvas, it's easy and it's fun!
My family has a habit of giving something home-made or hand crafted as a gift to our closest friends and family. This year we decided to do something with buttons as they are quite popular.
After some careful consideration we decided to make letter canvas for each and everyone with their initial on it. This was my first button project so I was looking forward to it and am happy to share how I did it and what I learned along the way.
All the photos on this page are taken by me.
What you'll need
Supplies, supplies!
There are many different ways you can go about making your canvas so you don't need all of these supplies.
Basics
Canvas or FabricFrameButtonsGlueGlue Gun or Needle and StringLetter StencilsFabric Chalk or Soft pencilOptionalBeadsColourful Wooden Pendants...Buttons and Wooden Pendants - I am a hoarder when it comes to these
As I don't have a craft store nearby I usually get my crafting supplies on-line. I got the buttons and wooden pendants I used from eBay. You can get quite a bargain on some of the supplies but it will take a while for them to arrive so be sure to plan ahead.
Glue Gun - A must for every crafter
Can you believe I have been doing all kinds of crafts for my whole life jet it was only last week when I bought my first glue gun?
Let's Begin!
Choose a letter stencil
I first tried aligning the buttons by myself for them to make a shape of a letter. It looked awful to be honest. I decided I need a stencil!
In Word (you can use pretty much every text or image editing software) I have chosen a font I liked the most for my project, selected the letters I needed and printed them out on A4 sheets as this was the size of the frame I was going for. If you will be making a larger project make a larger stencil. Naturally you can draw the letter outline by yourself.
I printed them out and cut out the letters.
Draw the Letter Outline on Canvas or Fabric - Use fabric chalk or soft pencil
Very gently draw the outline of the letter on your working surface. I have chosen to work with fabric. It is best if you use fabric chalk but as I have misplaced mine a pencil did just fine (although I wouldn't recommend using it on lighter fabrics or white canvas).
Place The Buttons - Try out what works best
Start placing buttons inside the letter outline to see what works best.
Glue or Sew The Buttons on the Canvas or Fabric - All done!
Last but not least either use the glue gun to put the buttons in place or sew them on.
I decided to sew the buttons on and to be honest it took me ages but I did like the additional value that the string brought. Before I started sewing I used paper glue in a stick to stick the buttons on the fabric so they wouldn't fall of while I was sewing.