I know not all sewists accumulate large stashes of sewing supplies, but I certainly do. Buttons have always been something that have stymied me a bit – how do I organize my button stash so that it is functional? I’ve stumbled onto a solution that makes things both organized and pretty, so I thought I would share!
I have purchased almost none of the buttons in my stash – they are the sort of thing that I have inherited from friends and family (including from a couple of my grandmothers). Accordingly, they range from single buttons to sets of more than a dozen. I divided my buttons out by the number of buttons in the set, since I hardly want to dig through all of them if I know I need many of the same button. I put together one jar of single buttons, one jar of sets of 2-5, one jar of 6 or more, and one jar of baggies full of more than 20 of the same button. I used an assortment of french glass canning jars that I had in the cupboard, but any jar or tin will do.
To keep the buttons in sets, I sewed each group together. It took an evening of sitting on the couch to do so, but it was kind of fun as I got to ooh and aah over what I had while I did so (and I’m generally a big fan of organizing things so it was quite satisfying!). Now, when I need buttons, I can easily pour out the right size jar on to my counter, pick out the button set I want to use, and sweep the rest back in to place.
Do you stash buttons? Do you have a solution for how to organize your buttons?
Comments 11
I stash buttons. I end up finding vintage buttons at antique malls in my local area and while traveling. What began as a modest stash has grown and overgrown my containers. I keep them, sorted by color, in small metal boxes that somewhat resemble recipe boxes. The black and white ones are in a separate box. Many of my buttons are on a card, or in a small plastic zip bag. I wish I had a better solution to my button stash problems, but I think the only way to fix it is to upgrade to larger boxes.
Author
If your stash is bigger than your containers, clearly the problem is the containers, not the stash!
Putting them on a string is SOOOOO SMART! Genius hack! Thanks so much for this lol
I know that it’s not rocket science but I had never though of that lol
That’s a great idea to put them in different jars for the button counts! I do string mine together too with some spare threads – its always a big project but so useful when it’s done. I started off putting them on nice little card stock – but that was just too much work when I got a whole button stash from my mom/grandmother.
Author
I thought about putting them on cardstock, but I couldn’t figure out a way that didn’t take up a bunch of room, since they all needed to be on the same size cards for it to feel organized. Perhaps I could have used index cards and put the in little index card boxes, but spilling a bunch of index cards on the counter just isn’t as satisfying as spilling out a whole jar of buttons :)
This is great, very organised. In my house it goes something like this: I need a button, I get out my tubs of colour graded buttons, the kids go ‘ooooh’ buttons, rifle through them, half of them end up on the floor, I gather them up in haste or older child is cajoled into putting them away with a few extra bits of fluff and crumbs, some end up wedged between the floor board, some get sucked up the hoover!!
Mx
Author
Haha. I can picture it! I have to lock my cat out of the sewing room while I’m sorting buttons for similar reasons :)
ohh, lovely. The buttons I inherited are mostly tied in bunches, but sadly (for me anyway) I just inherited the teeny tiny shirt buttons, not the multiple tubs of larger buttons that I actually wanted (my mother in law got those). So, I have a small button box, which has sections in and they’re mainly in coloured sections, and then my original button tin has the larger ones in, both singles and sets. I like the glass jar idea.
I have a very large, unorganized number of buttons. Thanks for the idea!! I’m going to put your method at the top of my “to do” list:-)
I organize my buttons in the exact same way but instead of the thread I’m using a thin, malleable wire! I just twist the ends once to close the “button ring” and put it in a jar. It’s so easy to open when I need a button. I’m not sure what kind of a wire it is, I buy it in a dollar store.
Author
Ooh that’s also a good idea! Thanks for sharing.