Vintage Buttons

I was preparing to post some store sample hats from my cousin’s yarn shop for sale on ETSY. Normally I go for simple and practical, without a lot of embellishment. But I felt that these hats needed something more to distinguish them from the many other hats for sale.

I had the idea of adding buttons, tassels, or pompoms. I found some scraps of yarn in my stash that worked for each hat, then stopped at Tangles to Treasures in Fergus Falls to look at my large collection of Mary Turak buttons, and to consult with Torri. Torri suggested crocheting flowers to adorn the hats, which could have a button in the center. Bingo.

The button collection came with my Mary Turak yarn store inventory purchase in the fall of 2018. Many of them are cool vintage buttons from the 1960’s. Each unique design of button lives in a plastic tube as seen in the photo below. Some of the tubes have only one button, others have many. The tubes pack horizontally into display cubes so you can see the sample button attached to the top of each one.

There are over 500 plastic tubes of buttons, packed into six display cubes. They are fun to look at, and technically for sale, but no one has bought a single button there. I can think of many ideas for using the buttons in art projects or fiber projects. Or I could try selling them on ETSY, but for now I am busy with other things.

Six display cubes housing over 500 tubes of buttons

Mother of pearl and other unique buttons

I had fun looking at all the buttons and picking some out that worked with the colors of each hat. It is easy to google for patterns and instructions. I have not crocheted much for a long time, but after watching a couple of YouTube video’s, I was ready to go.

I used a pattern called “Autumn Berry Flower” by Jenny Dickens for the crochet flowers. It is available for free on Ravelry. Check out my first crochet flower in the photo below, with one of the Mary Turak buttons in the center.

Following are photos of Mary Turak store sample hats, with my crochet flowers and buttons added.

The hats are for sale on my ETSY shop, where you can find more photos. Following is the link to my ETSY shop (also found in the menu above). https://www.etsy.com/shop/LakesCountryHandmade

Published by Meg Hanson

Hello. I am a recently retired empty nester. My husband and I moved to Jewett Lake in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, after living most of our lives in the Minneapolis area. I have no trouble keeping busy with knitting and spinning of wool, selling yarn and handmade goods, reading, walking, watching movies, surfing on the internet, traveling, doing bookkeeping for our family cabin, and spending time with family. View more posts

4 thoughts on “Vintage Buttons”

HI Meg! I love how the flowers with buttons are coming out! They really spice up the hats, which were already pretty one of a kind hand knit hats using special yarns! I do sell the occasional button here, there are just so many that it doesn’t make much of a dent! Thanks for your lovely blog posts. They are so much fun to read! Torri – Tangles to Treasures 🙂

LikeLiked by 1 person

Meg Hanson says:

December 7, 2020 at 10:34 am

Thank you for your comments. There are so many possibilities for the buttons. But meanwhile I love just looking at them!

LikeLike

Reply

I love this! What a great idea and use for the buttons. I have my grandmother’s collection of buttons. In a shop once, I saw a Christmas wreath pin made from vintage buttons. It was really cute – like your hats!

LikeLiked by 1 person