The Monday Project - Off-Centre Button Brooch

I've made plenty of stacked up button brooches in the past - and we've even sold kits of them in the past too - but this is a little take on the theme. So today's Monday Project is the off-centre button brooch, which does stack buttons up, but it puts the stack off to the side, giving the old classic a bit of a twist!

What you need:

• 1 x large button (5cm diameter works well) you can find them here and here. We've used coloured agoya shell buttons, as the colour on them is like no other. Here's a couple.
• 1 x brooch pin (any size will do)
• 1/2m waxed cotton cord in a complementary colour to your buttons, thin enough to go through your button holes.
• Small selection of buttons (for the topper)

Here's How To:

Decide what buttons you are going to use on your topper. This could be one, or could be two or three. On my sample I've used two. Thread the cord up through the back of both buttons, and down through the front, pulling them tightly together. Pull them to approximately 1/3 of the way along your cord.

Using the longest side of your cord, thread down through the front of one hole of the big button (fig.1). At the back, thread through the base of your brooch pin - making sure the flat side is flush to the button back(fig.2). (The amount of times I've done this the wrong way round I am too embarrassed to tell you.) Then thread the cord back to the front of the button (fig.3).

Position your button to one side as desired. Pulling the cord tight across the button, pull around to the back and wrap around the base of the brooch back (fig.1). This will give you an anchor with which to tie your knot (fig.2). Tie your knot tightly, and trim the ends of your cord close to the knot (fig.3). You may want to dab a little bit of glue or clear nail varnish on the knot to keep it doubly-secure.

As you can see in the top picture (the whale button) you can use shank buttons too. I tied a knot at the back of the shank to secure it in place (it wobbled otherwise), and double cord for extra effect. Then used a fine permanent ink pen (like a cd-writing pen) to draw on the bubbles. I have also in the past used charms on the tops of the buttons (dragonflies and butterflies make for a cute flowery effect!).

As usual with button jewellery, the concept is super simple but the possibilities are endless... so I'd love to see what you all come up with.

a x