How To Crochet A Flower Button Out Of Garbage- Tutorial

I've been working on this really cool project for a while, made entirely out of scrap material, but still very useful. I'll be sharing the tutorial for that project tomorrow, but in the meantime, I wanted to share with you a flower shaped button that I made for that project, entirely out of garbage. I had wanted to crochet a button that looked like a flower, but my searches on the internet weren't being too helpful- all the hits I got were either how to crochet to cover an existing button, or to make a flower and tack a button on as the centerpiece. Neither of those were what I wanted- I wanted an actual button made in the shape of a flower, and I wanted to make it entirely out of scraps.

And I did. I think it's mighty cute. This flower at the right was made out of a plastic bottle cap and yarn made out of old t-shirt material. Total cost- free!

I think it's pretty cutesy, and best of all, it's free! I will show you tomorrow the project I made with this, but other uses I can think of for this would be decoration for a headband, a barrette, or as the buttons for a funky shirt.

Best of all- it took me less than half an hour start to finish, and probably would have been quicker if I was able to do the crocheting part without holding a kid (or two) on my lap.

Upcycled Crocheted Flower Button Tutorial

Equipment Needed:
1 plastic bottle cap
1 thick nail
1 pair pliers
1 stove burner
1 plastic bottle cap
1 pair scissors
1 crochet hook (I used 4.5 gauge)
1 piece of unseamed t-shirt material (this can be the side of a t-shirt, cut out, so that no seams remain, or any other clothing item made out of t-shirt material)

Instructions:

1. Grab hold of your nail with your pliers. Heat up in fire.

2. When the nail is hot, hold the bottle cover in your hand and carefully melt a hole in the side of the bottle cover, going in and out with the hot nail to do so. Enlarge the hole by rotating the hot nail in circles so the hole is wide enough to fit your crochet hook.

3. Make holes all along the perimeter of the bottle cap, every little bit. I put 10 holes around the sides, but you may need fewer for a smaller cap.

4. Make t-shirt yarn (aka tarn) by laying your t-shirt material down flat, and then draw an imaginary spiral on it, like this.

5. Cut out the t-shirt along this spiral, trying to keep the corners as rounded as possible so the tarn doesn't end up with strange bumps. You want the sections of t-shirt to be no more than a centimeter in width.

6. Once you have your tarn, make a double knot in one end.

7. Place the knotted end of the tarn into the center of the bottle cap with the holes.

8. Put the crochet hook through one hole in the bottle cap, hook it on to the tarn, and pull it through, creating a loop.

See the loop? The knot should be up taut against the hole at the edge of the cap.

9. Make one chain stitch. (For those unfamiliar with crocheting, its when you wrap yarn- or tarn- around the crochet hook and pull it through your existing loop.)

Chain stitch completed.

10. Make a chain stitch or two until you reach the next hole in the bottle cap.

11. Bring the tarn to the middle of the cap. With the loop of tarn still around the crochet hook, reach inside the hole in the side of the bottle cap, grab the tarn, and pull a loop through the hole.

It'll look like this.

12. Hook onto the tarn and pull it through both loops of tarn.

13. Repeat the entire way around the bottle cap. 

14. When you reach the end, make a slip stitch to attach the two ends of the tarn. For those that don't really know how to crochet, that means stick the crochet hook through the piece you want to attach (see in pic), then wrap around the yarn (or tarn), pull it through both the area you want to attach, and the loop currently around your crochet hook.

15. Here's the cap, now surrounded by a ring of crocheted tarn.

16. Now crochet 5 chain stitches.

17. Do a single crochet into the hole in the tarn 2 over from where you started your chain stitches. A single crochet is when you put the hook through a hole, grab a piece of yarn/tarn, then pull it through the hole, making there be 2 loops on the needle now. Then grab another length of yarn/tarn, and pull it through both loops on the needle.

18. Repeat the 5 chain stitches and a single crochet all the way around the bottle cap.

19. When you've gone all the way around the bottle cap, do a slip stitch to attach the last loop of flower petal instead of a single stitch.

20. Finish off the crocheting by pulling a large loop through your last loop, then cutting the yarn/tarn in the middle of the loop, so you have a single piece of yarn/tarn inside a loop. Pull tight. Then use your crochet hook to thread the extra yarn/tarn in between your previous stitches to hide it.

To use as a button, turn over the flower, and thread string or yarn through at least 2 loops of tarn on the underside of the flower, and sew those strings/yarn onto your garment.

Have you ever made t-shirt yarn before? What did you use it for? Do you know how to crochet? Have you ever crocheted a flower before? Ever repurposed a bottle cap? What have you done with bottle caps? Have you ever combined any or all of the above? If so, what did you make?

What would you use such a flower for? 

Do you think this project is something you'd try out?

Linking up to Simple Lives Thursday, Frugal Friday,