Spool Buttons

I have been looking for a winter coat for a while but they are either prohibitively expensive or not my style. I had a bit of a brainwave last night when I saw an old summer khaki coat in the wardrobe. I have had the coat since my uni days, so over 10 years - eeek! I've altered it already a number of times. So I took hooded top (which I no longer wear as its covered in paint) and I cut the hooded top up the middle at the front and sewed it into my khaki coat - ta da...New winter coat!! It doesnt look too shabby either.

I was going to buy some nice wooden buttons to sew down the centre of the coat to jazz it up a bit and was about to leave the house to go button shopping this morning when I suddenly realised I didnt need to buy any wooden buttons, I could use the ends of old wooden spools.

So, to make these bad boys all you need to do is collect a few old-fashioned wooden spools if don't have any already, often these are available on ebay, charity shops, freegle or from a relatives stash.

Then, using a saw (I only had a junior hacksaw in my 'toolkit' but it worked fine) cut the ends off the spool.

Using a gimlet or braddle, poke holes for your threads in the spool heads, you have to press down fairly hard and use a sort of screwing action with the tool but the holes are quick to make and look pretty good once done (almost as though they were drilled).

Before you sew them onto a garment or cushion etc, just give them a quick spray with a clear sealer to make sure they can stand up to the great British weather!