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Does shopping on Etsy help support small businesses?
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Materials and Tools
Shrink Plastic (Has to be the real deal shrink plastic. Transparencies or other look-alikes may burn your house down and will definitely smell gawd-awful.)
Process
Trace a ruler onto the bottom of one sheet of plastic. Mark the inches, ½ inches and ¼ inches (or cm, if you prefer) and cut out. Bake your ruler on wax paper on your cookie sheet according to the instructions on your plastic — make sure you watch it.
Applications
You can do tiny buttons, giant buttons, square buttons, buttons shaped like dinosaurs — whatever you can think of, you can make. Want some dainty blue butterflies down the back of your gorgeous white ball gown? Can do. Want some larger gears for your steampunk ensemble? Can do. Want some old skool Nintendo gamepads? Can do. Sky's the limit.
Tips
If your plastic curls up and sticks to itself, and stays stuck, while the other buttons are flattening out, you can pop open the oven and use a pair of chopsticks or butter knives to gently attempt to separate it before it melts together.
Niche
How can you make this your own offbeat item? Creating your button puts the design decision in your hands. Here are a few ideas:
How to sew a tee pocket?
Place edge of tee pocket fabric inside the bias binding and stitch into place. This encloses the raw edge of the tee pocket. Place centrally along the zip pocket piece with the bottom raw edges matching. Sew down this central line. Place a tee in and bunch the fabric up to make a tee pocket, mark with pins.
How to make a bag with a lining?
Place the right sides of the main bag together. Stitch the three sides leaving the top open. Place the right sides of the lining together and repeat. Take care to leave a stretch unstitched along the bottom ready for turning out. Place the two bags together.
How to make a tee shirt with a zip?
Place zip pocket lining wrong side down, then the zip, then place pocket front (with tee pockets) right side down (facing the right side of the lining). Pin and tack into place. Stitch. Open out, press fabric away from the zip and top stitch. This prevents any fabric becoming caught up in the zip.
