Button change question - YouLookFab Forum

Hey all, I would love some feedback. I adore my turquoise JCrew pea coat, but I would reach for it more if I changed out the shiny gold buttons. I was cleaning out the coat closet the other day and realized a solution might be right in front of me: the silver buttons from a cream BR coat I got at a consignment store a couple of years ago. I've included pics of both coats. The silver buttons are larger, but *just* fit the buttonholes on the turquoise coat. I could find different buttons for the cream coat -- perhaps tortoiseshell.

I also have some old silver buttons in my sewing box, but not enough of any particular kind. The selection in the JoAnn fabrics near here was dismal, so I will have to search online if none of these seem right.

What do you think? Suggestions welcome! After a season of wear, I know I'm not happy with the shiny gold buttons, but I want to choose carefully. I don't want black -- too high contrast.

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11 years ago

Anonymous

I'm not a fan of gold buttons actually and I like your thinking. I made myself a J Crew lookalike peacoat a couple of weeks ago and I used an oxidised silver button. You could consider something like that if you want to leave the cream coat as it is, though tortoishell would look very nice on that too.

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JAileen

Veteran

I love your coat! I agree the gold buttons look wrong. Is silver a good color for you? I think silver would look great on it.

I changed the buttons on my red peacoat. The original ones were black. I thought it looked funny when I wore brown boots. I changed to a red/black faux tortoiseshell. I like it because the focus in not on the buttons anymore.

Another source for buttons: thrift store. Sometimes you can find a coat with buttons you like, for cheaper than buying buttons at Joanne's. We're lucky because we have a local fabric store that buys up odd lots of fabric and notions and so buttons are half the cost of Joanne's.

AviaMariah

I have the same coat Janet. I actually like the gold buttons more than I though I would but I'll be interested to see what you do with yours. I really like the buttons in #4 on the left. They look very classic to me which I like with this style coat and I like that they are not shiny. I'm not crazy about the buttons from the cream coat for the blue; I think it's the rounder shape and the shine of the buttons. Please share if you do change them out!

(website)

I don't care for gold and would change them out too. If you don't like the selection you have, try eBay. Every style and size you could imagine. I even found fleur de lis shaped buttons there for a simple cotton blazer a few years ago.

celia

My favourites are also the ones in #4, although I know you don't have enough of them.
The ones from the BR coat seem too shiny for what you want.

Diana

I think I would go for an oxidized silver or pewter, or brass if you don't mind the warmer tone. I think the BR buttons are still too shiny and bright.

Susie

My mom has that same cream jacket...I even bought it for her!

I agree with changing out the gold buttons. It seems like it would be simpler to just make one switch so I would find replacement ones rather than taking them from the BR jacket. Do you have any other fabric or craft stores? Or JoAnn could maybe order them for you.

Ps - etsy is a great source for buttons.

Gaylene

Ha, that's exactly what I ended up doing with my navy JC peacoat. The gold buttons were better than I thought, but it was more a case of tolerating rather than loving them. When one popped off, I decided to change the whole lot.

I had six antique pewter buttons that I bought in the UK eons ago that looked good on the coat, so I rummaged around in my rather considerable button collection until I found a couple of navy leather buttons with a pewter centre that coordinated with my antique ones. I used the pewter buttons on the front and the two leather ones on the back belt. The end result looks pretty good.

My suggestion is, if you want to use those six buttons, maybe look for a different button (shape? colour? size?) that coordinates with those buttons to use for the back belt--or even a totally different closure (buckle? toggle?) that you could use at the back. As a last resort, you could even just do some lines of stitching to add enough decorative element to the back belt.

Isabel

I am also not a gold button fan. I prefer the pewter. The round buttons on the cream coat seem very "military" to me, which makes sense on the cream coat but not so much for the teal.

XXXXXXX

catgirl

I actually prefer matching buttons on most colored coats, or the outright 80s look of black or white buttons. Unless it's a deliberate military look like brass on navy. So I would go for a turquoise button. Boring, I know.

Janet

Thanks, everyone! Great ideas.

Una, I prefer self-colored buttons too, but the turquoise is a hard match. Nothing even close in the stores, and online will be tricky to find the correct color.

I think I'll go for a simple muted silver or pewter button rather than the shiny round ones from the BR coat. Great ideas to look online for them! I'll scour Etsy and eBay.

rabbit

I had this same conundrum with gold buttons. I didn't actually end up doing the project, so I can't tell you if it will work, but the simplest cost effective approach I could find was buying Martha Stewart craft paints from Micheals that are permanent on everything including metals but that clean up with water.

They have an antique pewter and a tarnished silver, and I was going to experiment with layering these to get that effect on the buttons for a black jacket. They have many different colors and metallic and non-metallic finishes.

But this is if you want to go the metal decorative button approach.

ETA: oh, also I think it might be a good idea to clean any protective coating off the buttons with acetone first, just in case.

Mochi

Yep, I know you've pointedly mentioned before that you're a silver girl. I think you're making a good choice here. Buttons can really make the item pop. (Conversely, bad buttons can cheapen drastically.)

Carla

Oh! I replace buttons all the time! Great way to upgrade and personalize a garment.

Sarah A

Etsy and ebay sounds like good options. I also have bought a mens's coat at the thrift store before just for the fantastic buttons. We have a local coustume shop (they rent coustumes for parties and small stage productions) that has huge glass jars of buttons for 50 cents each so somewhere like if you have one nearby might be a place to look?

The problem I had with buying new buttons, was that my coat had several, and of several different sizes. But if your coat has a standard number and size, you should be good.

Gigi

I do like the looks of the buttons in pic 4. If you don't have enough, maybe you could find more online? I assume there is some kind of model number that might make searching easy.

I love gold in hardware so I think the coat is perfect as is, but if you don't love them, cest la vie. I would go with the oxidized silver buttons.

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