more sewing for skills, and today we're all about means to fasten fabric: buttons and snaps.

buttons

buttons are the bread and butter of fasteners. they can either be simple coordinates accents like these frosted purple ones I used on maya's peacock costume.

or they can be funky statement pieces like these hand carved wooden ones I use on lil' man flannels.

the main challenge with buttons is the button hole.

i didn't know how to do a button hole until i got my janome. even now with tons of practice I still get nervous turning a garment over to the fate of the often finicky button hole attachment.

button loops and thread chains

button loops and thread chains are an awesome alternative to button holes. rather than put a hole through fabric you have a loop that goes around it. here is one i did for nora and etta's beatles dresses.

and here are some more i did in a book report dress for maya.

snaps

I love snaps. They can be used anyplace you would use a standard button, but are much easier to dress squirming kids with. for that reason I use them a lot of baby clothing, like the cuffs of this lil' man flannel.

snaps are also awesome for places where you don't want to do a button hole.

in the bee mine dresses I worked so hard to match the pattern at the placket, and it turned out perfectly. Rather than risk messing it up with a button hole i did snaps and it turned out great.