DIY BUTTON CLOCK:

Materials:

• Fabric of choice
• Cardboard
• Buttons (12 or more)
• Sewing thread and needle (or glue)
• Scissors
• Rotary cutter and mat
• Box cutter
• Pencil
• Embroidery hoop
• Clock hands and motor (ours required a AA battery)

1.) Trace the inside of your embroidery hoop on your piece of cardboard.

 

2.) Cut out the circle you drew on your cardboard with a box cutter.

3.) Place your fabric on your cutting board and use a rotary cutter to cut a circle leaving about 1 inch of fabric around.

4.) Open your embroidery hoop and place fabric between, refasten securely.

5.) Gently pull fabric tight around so that your fabric is taut.

6.) Place your hoop on the cutting mat and center in the gridlines, lay a yardstick across lining it up with the middle line.

7.) Mark with pins at the edges.

8.)Turn 90 degrees and repeat. So you should have 4 pins marking two lines which would intersect in the middle of the clock and divide it into quarters.

9.) Lay a measuring tape around the edge measuring from one pin to the next. Divide that measurement into thirds. Place two pins, separated by that measurement, between your original two pins. Repeat for the other three quarters of the clock. You should have 12 pins spaced evenly around the edge of your hoop.

10.) Now its time to be creative! Decide how you want to lay out your buttons. We opted for a color wheel approach.

Also, you can see we weren’t able to find twelve perfect buttons so we grouped several smaller buttons in one spot-let’s call that a design element.

11.) Move each pin in by 1 inch, this is where you will sew your button.

12.) Sew (you could also glue) each button at the appropriate spot around the clock.

13.) Using a rotary cutter or scissors, cut off excess fabric around back of clock.

14.) Place cardboard circle in the back of embroidery hoop.

15.) Now determine the center of your clock by placing your ruler or yard stick along corresponding lines both horizontally and vertically, placing a pin in the middle.

 

 

 

 

 

16.) Remove cardboard and cut an x at the pin hole big enough to let your clock stem through.

17.) Replace cardboard inside embroidery hoop and insert clock back.

 

18.) Make a small incision in your fabric to allow the clock stem to come through, gently push fabric down around the stem to ensure it does not interfere with the clock hands

19.) Attach clock hands according to clock kit instructions, set time, and enjoy!

Finished Product: