Q The Tailor Blog: Missing coat buttons + Blizzard = Cold

Q The Tailor Blog: Missing coat buttons + Blizzard = Cold:     T here is nothing like a blizzard to remind folks that their coat buttons are loose or missing. We become fully aware that our zippers...

Missing coat buttons + Blizzard = Cold

    There is nothing like a blizzard to remind folks that their coat buttons are loose or missing. We become fully aware that our zippers are missing teeth,  the slide or just will not zip up.       

With winter storm Jonas set to arrive this weekend I thought a little button history was appropriate. 

The Button was invented around 1200, but originally as a decoration, not as a fastener.
Why? 

One explanation is that buttons made it to easy to open clothes, and folks literally believed that they represented a "loose life." I can only imagine what they would think of clothing today! 
  
As an accessory, however, buttons were the business!  They were sewn around the hem of dresses, around the collars, up and down sleeves. It was not unusual for a single garment to be decorated  with dozens of  the disks. 

    The award for the most buttons would have to go to Francis 1,  the sixteen century king of France, when he had his Tailor decorate one posh black velvet suit with 13,600 gold buttons.

  We are a generation removed from when simple sewing techniques were passed  down from family members or taught in high schools.  
   So people just do not know how to sew on a button. (evidenced by what come in the shop)   For some even if they knew how to sew on buttons, very few people keep a sewing kit or just threads and needles in the home. Often they say they just do not have time to do.

I hope this simple tutorial helps.





Start with a double-threaded needle. Bring the needle up through the wrong side of the fabric and one hole of the button.









Lay a toothpick across the button. Stitch as with light fabrics but go over the toothpick. For the last stitch, pull the needle down through one hole but not the fabric. Remove the toothpick; pull the button up.

Wind the thread around the stitches between the button and the fabric a few times, creating a shank. Poke the needle back through to the wrong side of the fabric and knot as with light fabrics.