Upcycling: 3 cool ways to embellish clothing & shoes

With Dual Duty XP All Purpose Thread, buttons and Coats & Clark Embroidery Floss we will embellish a cardigan, chambray shirt and pair of shoes to create unique and creative projects. Do you have a jar of mismatched buttons you have been waiting to use? We are going to use buttons in different shapes, sizes, colors and textures to elevate a shirt and cardigan and learn different ways to attach buttons. Next, we will embellish your favorite pair of canvas shoes with Coats & Clark Embroidery Floss!

Supplies

• Coats & Clark Embroidery Floss
• Anchor® Tapestry Needle #24
• Anchor® Embroidery Needles #9
• Dual Duty XP All Purpose Thread
• pair of scissors
• heat erasable pen or chalk
• buttons
• garment to embellish
• pair of shoes to embellish

1. Choose a shirt you would like to embellish. I chose a chambray shirt with a button placket and front pocket since I want to reattach the front buttons with colorful thread and add buttons to the pocket.

2. Remove the existing buttons and reattach them with bright colored Dual Duty XP All Purpose Thread. You can also replace the existing buttons with new buttons to elevate your design!

3. Remember you can sew buttons on in different ways. Take a look at the buttons sewn onto the garments in your closet. Are they sewn with an “X” or straight lines? Below are the different stitches I used to reattach the buttons on this chambray shirt with red Dual Duty XP All Purpose Thread.

4. Choose a fun selection of buttons and place them on the pocket. I played around with a few different arrangements of the buttons. In the end, I decided to sew the buttons on a diagonal across the pocket instead of covering the pocket entirely.

5. I selected red buttons and light blue Coats & Clark Embroidery Floss to make the stitches more visible. I sewed each button using a different stitch pattern and used Coats & Clark Embroidery Floss to attach buttons for a more impactful look.

1. A solid colored sweater or cardigan is a great starting point for this project. This cardigan is a bright apple green which is a fun backdrop for my selection of colored buttons.

2. Lay your garment flat. Place buttons on top of your garment in a design you like. Try to use to use different colors, textures and sizes of buttons to add interest to your design. It’s helpful to take a picture of your design to reference when attaching buttons later. Focus on adding buttons to the neckline of the garment. Since I am using a cardigan I also added buttons down the button placket. You could make this design on a sweater, sweatshirt, t-shirt, tank top simply by going around the neckline. This is the arrangement I decided on.

3. Sew on buttons using Dual Duty XP All Purpose Thread.

4. The final project!

1. Next, let’s step out in style with a pair shoes embellished with Coats & Clark Embroidery Floss! Since we will be stitching through the shoe, select a shoe that is constructed from one layer of canvas rather than leather or multiple layers of fabric.

2. First, sketch out your design. I used a heat erasable pen to sketch the design directly on the shoes. Using this type of pen is great because you can simply use steam from my iron to remove and redraw the design until it is just right. You could also sketch on paper to decide on your design. Below is a design I tried but did not like and my final sketch of spirals and circles.

3. Once you have decided on your design, pick the colors of Coat & Clark Embroidery Floss you would like to use.

4. Begin by creating a knot in your Coats & Clark Embroidery Floss and stitch from the inside of the shoe. I found it better to avoid the toe and heel area of this shoe since it was too thick to stitch through. Take your time to make sure each stitch is neat.

5. Have fun creating your designs! I created one swirl pattern in blues on the left shoe and a simple colorful stripe on both sides of the right shoe. These designs are simple and easy to execute and create a big impact! They’re also a fun way to mend any tears or holes in your shoes to give them a little more life!