Buttons are great for décor, crafts, and sewing—but they can also be used to create unique fashion accessories! Steampunk fashion is becoming more and more popular, blending the style of Victorian England with the imagery of steam-power and just a hint of science fiction. This Steampunk Necklace is a perfect way to showcase your unique style, so get your crafting in gear!
To make this Steampunk Necklace, you’ll need a variety of buttons that reflect a steampunk style. Clocks, hearts, keys, and gears are all great choices, as are metallic buttons. Silver, bronze, antique gold, copper, and iron are good colors to look for, particularly with weathered patinas. You’ll also want some jewelry chain, wire, and clasps in coordinating colors, as well as felt in a brown or bronze tone.
Here are some of the buttons that will work for this Steampunk Necklace project:
Make sure you also have the appropriate tools, including needle nose and chain nose pliers, scissors, and a hot glue gun.
Start by laying out your buttons in your desired pattern. String them onto the wire to help give them structure. It’s a good idea to put gear buttons with loops or large holes on each end, so that you can easily attach jump rings and chains later.
Once you’ve arranged the buttons onto the wire, glue the whole thing to your piece of felt to help it stay together.
Carefully trim away the excess felt. You want to let your buttons shine.
Using the pliers, attach the jump rings and a length of chain to the gears on each end of your button pendant. Then attach the clasp to the other end of the chains to complete your necklace.
Now that you’re done, pair the necklace with a steampunk-inspired outfit, a fun cosplay, or a quirky wardrobe. There are a variety of other fashion accessories you can create with steampunk buttons, so check out some of the other projects on the blog!
HAPPY CRAFTING!
We are a team of craft-obsessed, button loving people! You probably use buttons almost every day without giving it much thought – they keep our shirts closed and our pants up (hopefully!) - but buttons can be so much more! We created this blog to share all the fun, creative ways we’ve found to use buttons. Our product development team is always coming up with great new button shapes and colors, in addition to new products, so we will always have something new to share with you!