DIY Ice Cream Cone Button Shirt Makeover

I’ve been seeing these crazy button designs pop up on Pinterest and Instagram lately and I. LOVE. THEM.

It made me think of the endless creative ways you can make over a plain button down shirt.

And of course I wanted to make my own version too.

I love personalizing my clothes to make them look unique. It adds a personal touch and you truly have a one of a kind piece.

I knew I wanted my design to be colorful, fun and ready for summer.

So of course I went for a multi colored ice cream cone button design!

What I used:

Buttons in different colors
Needle and thread in matching colors
Fabric markers/fabric paint or permanent markers
Button down shirt

You can make this DIY in less than 15 minutes, if you have some good sewing skills. It might take you a little longer if you don’t 🙂

Replace the buttons of your shirt with buttons that match your design. In my case that’s blue, yellow and pink. I needed 4 buttons in total.

You might not need to replace the buttons at all if they already match the design you’re going for.

Make sure the new buttons are about the same size as the old buttons. If they are too big they won’t fit into the button holes and your shirt won’t close. If they are too small they will fall out of the button holes and your shirt won’t stay closed. Take the shirt with you to the shop or remove a button and bring it withyou for comparison.

Sew the buttons on your shirt with matching thread.

Draw a small cone underneath each button with a fabric marker. You can also use fabric paint by applying it with a small paint brush.

I closed the shirt first and used the buttons as a guide to decide where the cones begin and end and to see how big I wanted the cones to be.

I didn’t have a light brown fabric marker (or fabric paint) so I drew the cone with a yellow fabric marker first and then I went over the yellow layer with a dark brown colored fabric marker. The 2 colors combined created this lighter camel colored brown.

Use your imagination and paint whatever design you want! The possibilities really are endless.

For the next step I opened the shirt to finish the last details of the cones.

With a fine permanent marker I drew a few lines on top of the cone to give it some texture. My intention was to make them look more like real wafer ice cream cones.

You can also use a fabric marker or fabric paint for this step. Just make sure it has a very fine tip.

Follow any additional steps required in the instructions of your fabric dye. Sometimes the instructions say to wash or iron the clothes first.

Give your ice cream cone button design some time to dry before wearing it.

Now you have a new staple piece for your wardrobe! And since you made it, it truly is one of a kind.

Update: After publishing this post I was contacted by Homespun magazine and they asked if they could feature this tutorial in one of their upcoming issues. Homespun is a beautiful Australian magazine that shares lots of amazing sewing tutorials. Thanks again for the feature, Homespun! #soproud

You might also like:

This cute DIY Lips Shirt is made using an eraser as a stamp! You can re-use your stamp to create several matching accessories!