Buttons, notions and lovely makes for crafters
Charity-shop tins and car-boot bags can be a wonderful source of vintage fastenings, but a little inspection saves a lot of regret. Here is a friendly field guide to checking condition, judging value and giving oddments a useful second life.
A bargain button is rarely just a bargain. This maker-friendly look at value, wear and repair weighs up when to save, when to spend and how to spot a fastening that will earn its keep.
They look like ivory, feel cool in the hand and began life on a palm tree. Here is a maker's guide to corozo and tagua buttons — how to spot them, how they survive the wash, and what to do with a stray handful from the bargain bin.
Three railway towns, one small bag and a shopping list of fastenings: a slow-travel weekend through Britain's button-making heartlands. Expect museum workshops, antique-centre rummages and a good few cards of buttons coming home in your coat pocket.
A four-hole button is not just a two-hole button with extra holes. The path you choose — parallel, cross or square — changes how it wears, how it sits and how the fabric behaves. A practical guide for coats, shirts and knits, with a small UK notions list and tips for teaching beginners.
A mismatched button can look like a repair, or it can look like the whole point. This is a maker’s guide to choosing one standout fastening on purpose — by scale, colour, material and placement — with UK sourcing ideas and three small projects that let a lone button do the talking.
Thick wool, blustery mornings and fingers in gloves: some winter coats ask for more than a button. Here's why loop-and-toggle closures earn their place on duffles, capes and heavy cloth, how to choose between horn, wood and cord, and a step-by-step for replacing a tired toggle loop at home.
Buttons are lovely, but they multiply quietly — a jar here, a tin there, a handful in the bottom of the sewing box. Here’s a practical, renter-friendly way to store and display a collection in a small home, keeping favourites visible, protected and genuinely usable.
A button looks finished the moment it lands in your tin, but it has usually been through a quiet series of decisions first. Here is what British button makers look for in materials and finishing, how to spot a sturdy fastening on the shop rail, and why buying British can matter long after the seam is sewn.
A charity-shop tin or an inherited sewing box can hide proper little pieces of British social history. Here is a practical, maker-friendly guide to five heritage buttons UK crafters often meet — how to spot them, clean them kindly and decide whether to sew them on or set them aside.
A button that looks perfectly sensible at 11am can turn strangely flat by four o'clock, and downright odd under a string of fairy lights. Here's a gentle method for testing pearl, metallic, horn and iridescent buttons in the light they'll actually be worn in — plus notes for anyone photographing makes for a winter stall.
A cardigan rarely dies of old age — it dies of a loose thread that nobody noticed until the drum had done its worst. This is the small, repeatable wash-day ritual that keeps buttons on, knitwear in circulation and favourite garments out of the rag bag.
A button box is a sociable thing waiting to happen. Here is how to turn a spare evening into a friendly notions exchange — with sensible sorting, pretty displays and a plan for every leftover oddment.
A small, well-chosen tin can rescue a British day out from a popped button, a snapped strap or a stubborn press-stud. Here is how to pack a pocket-sized ButtonBox repair kit without turning it into a portable sewing shop.
Replacing tired or missing buttons on a winter coat is about more than colour matching. From button weight and thread shanks to working around a lining, this is how to care for a coat without erasing its character.
Before the Christmas do, the carol concert and the Boxing Day walk, give your festive knit a quick button check. Here are five practical rescues for wobbly shanks, missing buttons and strained plackets, plus washing advice so the jumper lives to see another party season.
A shrunken wool jumper is not a lost cause. Turn that accidentally felted knit into a cosy button-back cushion cover with a sturdy opening, pleasingly chunky buttons and a handmade winter look that suits UK crafters and small makers.
A hand-worked buttonhole can feel like a test of nerve, but it is really a small lesson in patience and practice. This calm guide walks you through the kit, the stitches and the common wobbles, with plenty of encouragement for beginners and small makers.
Chocolate is lovely, but a calendar that hands you a tiny button or ribbon every morning is lovelier still. Here is how to sew a reusable 24-pocket advent calendar from fabric scraps and fill it with budget-friendly haberdashery finds.
Button sizes can feel like a secret language, especially when UK patterns, vintage cards and online shops all use different labels. This reassuring guide untangles ligne, millimetres and old imperial marks, with a conversion table and simple measuring tips.