where to find buttons - YouLookFab Forum

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About: Repositioning and Switching Buttons

where to find buttons

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

Angie points out that swapping out buttons, in addition to moving them, can be a way to improve how a garment integrates into your wardrobe. But where does one find the buttons?

So many brick-and-mortar fabric stores have closed! I can count more defunct ones that I used to shop at than ones where I currently shop. Even the big chain fabric stores, with button selections that can sometimes feel pretty uninspired, are few and far between these days.

My go-to places are

- the two remaining independent fabric stores I know of in Seattle (for those who are in this area, they are Stitches, on Capitol Hill, and Pacific Fabrics, in SODO)

- yarn shops (great source for larger and/or artistic buttons)

- online, Button Shed UK (either through their UK site, https://thebuttonshed.co.uk/ or their Etsy store, https://www.etsy.com/shop/Buttonsheduk)

- also online, Sawyer Brook fabric (https://www.sawyerbrook.com/). If you are buying fabric, you can have them match buttons to it. Or you can also just buy buttons from them.

What are your favorite button sources?

Shopping

24 replies

Latest reply was from Bijou

Carol

(website)

Veteran

What a cool thought. I never had items I really needed buttons for, but I used to randomly collect them as I came across them. With technology today, you could probably find any kind of button online. But what I would really be excited about would be coming across a random lot at an estate sale, or something.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Thanks, Sharan! Helpful and on point. I am in very good hands with your sewing expert self when we venture out to these places together

DonnaF

Veteran

Britex Fabrics near Union Square in San Francisco and Stone Mountain and Daughter in Berkeley.

LJP

Veteran

This is on point with a similar issue I have : I was trying to find a better quality woven 1.5 inch tape and maybe rubber coated D rings to replace on a top I have that I love but came with the cheapest looking tie/d ring thing . And where I'd have simply gone to a fabric/sewing centre to buy, there is maybe one b&m store here now and it's not terribly convenient to get to. I searched on amazon, to no avail - you can't buy single pieces of sewing items! I imagine the very same situation exists for buttons. Want me to send you my button jar? Lol. It has every button I've ever used to sew with or came attached to a garment .

Indigoprint

Veteran

Thank you for these resources.
Just this spring I thrifted a trench coat, a HEWI for me but the buttons were a plain khaki color as the trench and I had always dreamed of tortoise shell.
They must have been an odd size as I could not find any.
I ended up dyeing my buttons using a variety of alchol inks. I am happy with the results, but do not know how long the finish will last. Good to have some resources in case I need to replace them.
Thank you

RobinF

Veteran

Yeah, our Joann's just closed and that was my go-to for buttons. We do have a fabric store still but the button selection is pretty limited. Checking online is a good idea although I like to see them in person. So sad to see fabric stores going away.

Lisa

Veteran

What a great question. I am no help here (other than Amazon or Walmart craft sections I wouldn't know where else to look). And I agree that too many stores are going out of business or switching to online only. I miss the days of shopping in person more often.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

LJP, cotton twill tape is surprisingly hard to find! You might find some good D-rings if you search for purse- or bag- or belt- making supplies. There is an online supplier called The Buckle Guy in the US who carries all kinds of great bag and belt hardware. (Makes me want to get into leather bag-making!) And Seattle Fabrics--a local store near me that has now gone online-only--carries the more sporty types of hardware you'd want for backpacks and the like. Maybe you can find similar suppliers in Canada.

JAileen

Veteran

We have a kind of funky local fabric store. They have all kinds of fabric and notions. If you need material for your wedding dress, they have it. If you need material for a new lining for the trunk of your car, they have it. They also have lots of buttons.

Another place I’ve found buttons: rummage sales and thrift stores. I’ve bought garments with great buttons to use on other items. Unfortunately, the thrift store where I’ve volunteered has also had items taken into the changing room and the buttons removed and stolen.

LJP

Veteran

Yes ! Twill tape is the name I was looking for

elke

Like JAileen, i recommend checking the thrift stores. I’ve found some very good vintage buttons at Value Village and a local charity store. You might also look at https://cleanerssupply.com. They are in Toronto and have the basic types of buttons, as well as many sewing supplies at good prices.

And i just realized that you are in the US, so http://wawak.com is the US equivalent of cleaners supply, and probably has even more to offer.

cat2

Veteran

I like Etsy. If you search for shell buttons, they are like the old school buttons we used to get before everything went plastic. And they aren’t very expensive and can often be reused. I have also found metal coat buttons to replace some rather stern ones on a winter coat.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

Thanks for all the great tips!

Elke, I've heard of Wawak and had forgotten about it. What a great source. Now I've bookmarked it--thanks!

JAileen, good ideas. And it's so sad that people would do that to merchandise in your thrift store (or anywhere, really, but especially sad when the sales are supporting a charity).

Indigoprint, how bold of you, to DIY dye your buttons!

DonnaF, it's good to know Britex and Stone Mountain and Daughter are still in business!

Brooklyn

Veteran

I mostly get mine from Etsy. I find that they are extraordinarily expensive at fabric stores, and often the range is quite limited and boring. I’ve also had some success at local flea markets. One in particular has a booth which sells cards of buttons (generally about 6 per card) for $1 per card. I’d love to know how the seller sources them.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Etsy is a great idea!

A bit more of a scavenger hunt, but I’ve seen some great buttons in antique shops and malls. Just an idea worth tucking away the next time one decides to wander an antiquing area. I still have a set of funky silver ones I got at an antique shop literally 30 years ago. I thought I would use them to update an old jacket but never did, and they are still in my button box!

Runcarla

Veteran

When I need buttons, I check a local antiques dealer first. The only problem is sometimes the sets are odd numbers and there might not be sufficient matching buttons for your specific garment, Case in point, I couldn’t find six matching buttons for my wool jacket, but lots of cards of 5!

There’s a limited selection at a small independent fabric store in a neighbouring town, like someone mentioned above, some crafty wooden and ceramic ones at a wool store. Thrift stores must have got all the button stock when the fabric stores went out of business, since most seem to have a box of button cards.

Mary Beth (formerly LBD)

(website)

Veteran

Keep an eye out for local estate sales in your neighborhood. A neighbor of mine recently moved from a large townhouse to a much smaller, more manageable condo. She had three basement rooms full of fabric, buttons and notions!

Check in with your family as well. I have an entire container of buttons my grandma and great-grandma saved over the course of at least 60 years.

ETA - local dressmaker/tailor/alterations shops may have some good stock that they’d be willing to sell.

Quietgirl

Veteran

I found buttons at Hobby Lobby and surprisingly at Michaels crafts. I was making a nice rayon shirt dress and preferred something other than just a shirt button. The dress is finished and looks fantastic with round pearl buttons from Michaels!

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

I have bought vintage (or simply old?) buttons sewn onto cards, at the Sewing and Stitchery Expo that I used to go to every year at the fairgrounds south of Seattle. There was always a booth or two with an intriguing selection. I picked out ones that I thought were pretty or that I thought I might use. They are rarely the right size or number for what I need, though, as Carla found when looking for jacket buttons. But the vintage ones are so cool. I guess they take up very little space, so it's not the worst thing to have a stash of them on hand, even if, like Janet, I might not find the right project for some of them.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

I had a sad experience with buttons. Mum had an amazing big button tin. I remember playing with it as a child and I did use some beautiful ones to transform a sort of trench coat I got from somewhere in maybe my early 20s? I didn’t wear it that much and later gave it away.
Unfortunately after Mum died 11 years before Dad, he moved another 3 times and didn’t ask me what I wanted kept. So the button tin as well as Mum’s “glory box” (furniture) was given to others. He was not very sentimental at all, unlike me who took after Mum in that way. She has been dead 26 years and I still wish I had that button tin! I have a much smaller collection but I think if I were more of a sewist I would be going on hunts in antique stores or similar!

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Actually I have just thought it could be like Mary Beth. Mum’s mother was a dressmaker, I suppose many of the buttons might have been hers. It would have been several generations that we could have had them for.
My mother-in-law used to sew for her family, maybe she has some. I don’t have a need right now for any. Just think old things like that can be really cool.
To Carla’s problem of 5 not 6, I would just say find one different one to be a statement button.

kkards

Veteran

Never would have thought of Etsy or antique stores!

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

Jenni, that's a sad experience indeed.

I would be similar to the neighbor of MaryBeth's, although my sewing supplies are limited to one room in our house.

Bijou

Veteran

I'm so glad you have raised this issue; this has been my experience as well. There used to be so many amazing fabric and button stores in my city - now in the few that exist the prices are outrageous.