Buttons, notions and lovely makes for crafters
Before a button goes into the basket or onto the cardigan, give it a small sensory audition. A tap on the counter, a gentle drop on a table and the click of a finished fastening can reveal plenty about material, thickness and whether that bargain is likely to last.
Mornings with young children have enough moving parts without a stubborn button. This guide looks at button size, placement and reinforcement so handmade and school-uniform fastenings are easier for little fingers — and tougher for busy weeks.
When the lamp is on but the idea isn't, let the button tin decide for you. A three-button draw, a copyable worksheet and three small makes that turn a rattly old box into a design brief — all from what you already own.
A button can be beautifully made and still be the wrong button for the person wearing it. This guide looks at fastenings through a comfort-first lens, from smooth rims and flat backs to nickel-free metals, covered buttons and soft loop alternatives. It also includes simple pre-finish tests that help makers catch scratchy edges and fiddly closures before the final stitch.
Most coats and cardigans arrive with a small envelope of spare fastenings, then quietly lose it to the bottom of a pocket. Here is how to identify, label and test that tiny stash before a button goes missing.
Straight plackets are the easy bit. Curved necklines, collar stands and narrow bands ask a different question: where does a button actually belong? A practical guide to spacing, stabilising and test-scrapping your way to fastenings that sit kindly.
A maker-friendly plan for homemade nativity costumes that survive quick changes, eager sheep and the school-hall sprint. From safe button placement to adjustable tabs and a stash-dive for halos and star centres, here is how to make fastenings do the quiet hard work.
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.