This vintage button necklace is where upcycling meets geometry class with a splash of brass and a whole lot of sass!

Don’t ask me to do math, but I can piece together a geometric necklace, and I’m sharing all my tips to help you make one just as fabulous.

Have you ever noticed how ornate and beautiful some vintage brass buttons can be? If you’ve inherited a collection, like us, why not bring them out of hiding and let them shine? By the way, the history of buttons is pretty interesting. I’m always fascinated when one turns up on Oak Island. Despite the mystery dragging on for years, it’s those little discoveries that keep me tuning in! Every button is a piece of someone’s history, just waiting to be re-discovered.

Alongside vintage brass metal buttons, I used copper compression washers salvaged from my husband’s now-obsolete paint cup gun. Who knew that thing was hiding jewelry potential? Apparently, I did!

Do It Over Designers

The Do It Over Designers blog Hop is hosted by Ann at The Apple Street Cottage. We’re a group of bloggers who take something old and/or unused and ‘do it over’ into something new. These items can be found in closets, barns, garages, yard sales, thrift stores, you name it! Be sure to check out the projects at the very end of this post!

Vintage Button Necklace Materials

[If you’re looking for some of the things we used, we’ve got you covered (disclosure): The blue links in this post may be affiliate links. We earn a commission from qualifying purchases which we proudly donate to Alzheimer’s research. But don’t worry, you don’t pay a cent more! Thanks for helping to support our fundraiser!]

• Assorted metal brass buttons – smooth and ornate
• Brass or copper washers (these aren’t flat; they are more like rings)
• 14 mm silver jump rings (to attach buttons); and
• 4 mm antique bronze jump rings
• Antique brass chain
• Antique brass lobster clasp
• Vevor ultrasonic cleaner (optional)
• Two needle nose pliers
• Simple Green Pro heavy duty cleaner
• Antique Brass Wire
• Twist ties

Clean Metal

A lot of these buttons belonged to our moms and some were found gathering dust in old sewing machines collected by Hubs. So a deep cleaning is in order!

An ultrasonic machine can remove protective coatings and patina you may want to keep so always test a sample of what you want to clean first – just in case. We set ours to five minutes at a time.
Instead of dumping everything into the wire basket, we use Ziploc bags to keep like objects together. Add your cleaner of choice and water in a mixing cup first and then distribute into each bag. In this case, we’re using Simple Green as the cleaning agent.

This is before one round of cleaning.
After cleaning, if the water is really dirty like below, we do another round of cleaning in the ultrasonic.

Then thoroughly rinse in a strainer to ensure nothing goes astray.

Hubs takes a blow dryer to the contents in the strainer to speed drying time.

Then let everything dry on some paper towels.

Assemble Button Necklace

At this point, you can play around with the washers. I’m aiming for an inverted triangle and I have different sized washers so I try a few configurations before settling on the first few rows.

I attach all the washers using antique brass jump rings. I find it necessary to double them up.
Just for fun, I attach the first set of four buttons. I’m using large silver jump rings because I don’t have the size I need in brass. I actually love mixing metals in my pieces, just as I love to mix metals in home decor, too.

After struggling with attaching jump rings, I found it SO much easier to twist tie the washers together first, row-by-row.

Assembly Tip

Twist ties keep everything organized. You just remove one at a time to put the jump rings on and you’re golden.

Once all the washers are attached, you can have fun choosing buttons!

depending on the style of button and shank, you may need to attach with wire instead of jump rings.
Then add some chain to hang it all.

Ideally, I would add two more buttons on the top row to balance this. However, I didn’t have six and really wanted to use these.

Last Thoughts

The size of jump rings does allow the support framework (washers) to shift when wearing. But I love and embrace the imperfection! If you want the shape to be more rigid, try working with smaller jump rings, soldering the back (you just need a drop), or wrapping antique brass wire at each connection point (which may look too messy – and possibly leave sharp ends if you don’t tuck them in).

If you love unique handmade necklaces, then check out this Celtic Knot Necklace! There are step-by-step illustrations to guide you. Sometimes necklaces can multi-task as something completely different, like this upcycled adult bib. You have to see it to believe it. Or stick with buttons and make this truly unique suncatcher DIY!

Learn to Make Jewelry

I just recently joined the Style Makers Network to help overcome my creative block. It’s an online community for learning and sharing handmade jewelry and fashion, created by my friend Carol Karl. Jewelry making is brand new to me and I have to admit; I love learning new skills and connecting with fellow makers in a private community that’s not on Facebook! If you’ve been feeling stuck creatively too, something like this might be worth exploring.

Key Features of The Style Makers Network:

• Ad-free tutorials: Step-by-step guides for jewelry and fashion projects.
• Live support: Zoom calls and Q&A sessions with feedback.
• Exclusive content: In-depth lessons not available on YouTube.
• Creative challenges: Monthly prompts to inspire and showcase your work.
• Supportive community: Connect and share with other makers.

Pin Vintage Button Necklace

Pinning is always welcome and appreciated!

Do It Over Designers

Now, our talented blogger friends have some amazing and inspiring DIYs for you! Don’t forget to visit these posts for more upcycled do-it-over transformations!

• Purple Hues and Me
• Sum of Their Stories
• Birdz of a Feather (that’s us!)
• Vintage Style Gal
• The Apple Street Cottage
• Pandora’s Box
• Little Vintage Cottage