How to Make Easy Rings from Vintage Buttons

While my sleep-deprived brain somehow managed to figure this out on its own, I am by no means not the only person to have figured out this fun and easily crafted toy. Just do a search online for "button rings" and you'll find all kinds of cute colors and styles to motivate you to make your own. These cute rings aren't just for children. Adults can have fun with them, too! I have a large number of vintage buttons that are very beautiful and would make lovely rings all on their own.

This is one of those crafts that is perfect for a rainy day because you can throw a few together in a matter of minutes and your children will be busy playing happily with them for the next hour, allowing you a little much-needed time to get something done around the house. It's also quick enough that children will have the patience to sit and watch while you do it. My two-year-old did.

Older children can help by picking out the buttons they like and arranging them in color combinations that best suit them. If you have a younger child that isn't much interested in watching what you are doing, you can give them the buttons to sort through (a very favorite daily activity in our house!). Be sure that you closely watch a young child who may put a button into his or her mouth as it can pose a choking hazard.

I, like many people, have a jar of old buttons that I have collected over the years. Some of them came from my great-grandmother's collection and were handed down to me from my mother. Others I have found while walking or popped off of old clothing or I snipped and saved them from old clothes that were no longer fit to wear.

If you have a jar of buttons, dump them out into a flat container such as a cake pan or a pie pan. Sort through them until you find the buttons that you would like to use. The buttons should be flat. A button with a raised buttonhole on the back is likely to catch on something and break off. If you would really like to use a button with a raised back, you will need to find another button to set it into that has a bowl-shaped cavity on the front so that the raised button will set down into it.

Take a piece of 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch (or smaller) elastic and wrap it around your child's finger. Measure and cut it. You DO NOT want the band to stretch once it is on the child's finger. This can cut off their circulations. It should just fit or it should be slightly loose. The elastic will hold it on their finger quite well (children's fingers tend to be somewhat sticky feeling all of the time, anyway). The main thing is that when they go to pull the ring off, it will stretch easily and they won't have a hard time pulling it off of their finger.

Once you have cut the piece of elastic, make it into a ring and carefully sew the overlapped edges together with two or three stitches of doubled-up thread. Lay the buttons on top to cover the overlapped area and continue sewing the buttons to the elastic band. Be sure to make plenty of passes through the button holes so that your ring will be strong. Tie off the thread under the buttons between them and the elastic. Cut your thread.

Buttons made from gold and silver colored buttons (especially the type that look like coins) are wonderful pirate props. Just be careful as many metal buttons contain lead and should not be given to children. Resin, glass, ceramic and wood buttons are best for children's costume jewelry so long as they are thick and strong and not brittle.

Note: These rings are a choking hazard and should not be given to small children who still put things into their mouths.