PINK SATURDAY POST: BUTTONS

This week's Pink Saturday post is all about buttons!

This is cheating a little, but I couldn't resist! It still features buttons.... of a sort...
Image from Art-e-zine


I've always been fascinated by buttons.

I'm sure most of us had grandmothers with button drawers (mine also had a thread & ribbon drawer and a jewellery box with odd earrings, brooches with stones missing, and broken neckalces) and kept us quiet for hours by letting us sort out, play, admire and generally drool over their collections ... only if we were good, mind!


Image from Art-e-zine



So I was delighted to find this interesting little article written by Lorine Mason in the current Sewing Savvy Newsletter.


When Did Buttons First Appear on Clothing?
A Fun History Lesson

Buttons have been around for over 3,000 years and although recognizable as buttons, they were not actually used to fasten anything. They were fashioned from bone, horn, wood, metal and seashells and were purely decorative, more like a brooch as pins were used for the closures. That remained the case until clothing became more fitted, creating a need for a closure using items less likely to cause injury, i.e. the pin or the brooch. The button was first used as a closure with the addition of a thread loop sewn on the opposite side of the garment. The buttonhole slowly evolved, starting out as a simple slit in the fabric just large enough to pass the button through, holding the clothing closed. Inspiring a fashion revolution, the button quickly became big business. More elaborate buttons and button holes were created, and their popularity quickly became a driving force in clothing design.


OK, not strictly buttons although she's wearing them, and this advertises a different fastener... but still fun! Image from Art-e-zine






All Buttoned Up

Why do women button their clothing from left to right and men from right to left? The thought is that while men generally dressed themselves, and most were right-handed, it only made sense for buttons to be sewn to garments along the right-hand side. Women who could afford buttons at the time employed dressing maids who were mostly right-handed, requiring a mirror image of the button placement on a man's garment. The tailors of the 15th century were accustomed to this and following this thought pattern, fashioned men's and women's clothing accordingly. The custom of placing buttons on a particular side of clothing for men and women remains in place today.

Well, I never knew that!

And of course it makes perfect sense: when we are dressing the male sex (little boys, partners struggling with too-tight shirts etc) that being used to the buttons being on the LEFT (correct for us) that of course their buttons would now be in what WE consider the proper place!

To read everyone's Pink Saturday posts and to find out how to join in the fun, go and see Beverly's site, How Sweet the Sound for the full list of participants.

It's a great way to find new blogs! Much fun!