Somewhere along the line, I became a button collector. Or maybe “hoarder” is a more appropriate term. I am partial to glass, and I particularly like to scoop up the types that go with almost anything I make: clear glass, glass pearls, black glass, or rhinestones. But I also love early plastics like Bakelite.

But I have a lot of lonely buttons that don’t belong to a set and I never know what to do with them! Well, here are some suggestions courtesy of the always-delightful Millie Motts.

This seems to be an ad for La Mode buttons. Some of these ideas are cute, and some are… wacky. Like covering a bolero in gold buttons? Not for me, but I’m sure someone can pull off that level of bling.

What do you do with extra buttons? Any ideas?

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I’m a wee bit obsessed with the scallop detail with this Du Barry dress on ebay. Even though it looks to have been shortened considerably, I’d still buy it in an instant if I could fit into its 24 inch waist (ha!).

But I can still be inspired by it. Check out the rows and rows of scallops on this beauty! I’d love to see what the inside of this dress looks like.

Normally, I can break down those wonderful vintage details into something fairly simple, but I do believe taking on something like this would be firmly in the advanced category, if only for the amount of time it would take.

Ooh la la. This navy dress from salvagelife is really lovely.

I really love how the taffeta contrasts with the crepe of the dress, the way the leaves fan out from the waistline, and how all the appliques are fairly flat so they don’t add bulk at the waist. Anyone have any ideas on how you would create those leaves? I like the look of them!

You know I love those vintage surface details. They often look so luxurious, but when you break them down, they’re not hard to do. Often they involve making some bias tape, cording, or piping and sewing it on in an ingenious way.

But this one looks even easier than most! At first glance, it looks to be made with ric-rac. Upon closer inspection, I’m not 100% sure that it’s ric-rac, and not some other trim sewn in a wave pattern. But nevertheless, it would certainly work in ric-rac, don’t you think?

I’ve always thought ric-rac looked so cutesy, but this is actually quite elegant. The deep stormy blue color helps too. I just think this vine pattern is really amazing.

The original vintage dress was found on Ebay from the lovely Mill Street Vintage.

I found this dress at one of my favorite vintage shops, Dear Golden. I’ll admit that the color isn’t for me (and I adore pink), but those pockets!

I’m completely enamored with the stitched bows. I captured a close up shot for you. I’m not an embroidery expert, but it looks to me like some kind of heavy coarse thread. I suppose you’d stitch the outline of the bow, then fill it in with the loops. Very very pretty.

I just came across this really pretty dress on Etsy. I really love vintage dresses like this: simple, but with eye-catching details. This dress even has pockets!

Alas, it is a bit small for me, but take a look at that neckline for inspiration! It looks like two rows of fabric-covered cording are appliqued at the neckline and armholes, forming that lovely geometric pattern. Adorable! You could definitely add something like this to a dress you’re making, or even an existing simple dress!

Seeing as I spend most my time either sewing or thinking about sewing, I’ve decided to attempt to fill in some gaps in my sewing related knowledge. I plan to take a closer look a different types of fabric, starting with the favourite of many vintage fans: barkcloth.

The term ‘barkcloth’ refers to the nubby texture of the weave (see close-up image above), rather than a specific fibre content or design. Original barkcloth was produced in South East Asia and the Pacific Islands by soaking and beating the inner bark of certain trees into a paperlike fabric. Often these fabrics were dyed, painted or printed. Exotic tropical designs began to become popular in the US from the late 1940’s and barkcloth Hawaiian shirts and furnishing fabrics (some of which were brought home by American GI’s stationed in Hawaii) became all the rage.

The original barkcloth effect was appropriated and reproduced to supply the demand by using a heavy Momie weave to produce what we know as barkcloth today. It is typically a medium-to-heavy weight fabric which dominated interior textiles, particularly curtains and upholstery, from the 1940’s right through into the 1960’s. Some countries, including Australia, were still producing barkcloth into the late 1970’s. The lighter weights were also used in apparel (see the 1950’s skirt above).

In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, the South Seas and Pacific were exotic and desirable, a taste of which could be brought into the home or wardrobe with tropical imagery and designs which referenced the original imported barkcloth fabrics.

Going further into the 1950’s, the barkcloth print designs that were available changed along side shifting popular imagery. Designs featuring feathers or leaves in subtler tones like the fabric above became popular.

Interior influences began to shift towards the clean lines of Scandinavian furniture, and textile design reacted by combining gentle geometric forms with organic motifs.

These increasingly abstract textile designs were soon sent into orbit, prints became only representative of the earlier nature-inspired designs. The space race inspired an obsession with ‘atomic’ imagery: boomerangs, flying saucers and scientific stylings.

As interest in atomic imagery was slowly replaced by the embrace of flower power around the mid 1960’s, barkcloth faded from the interior design scene. However, recent interest in mid-century design has resulted in printed barkcloth becoming highly collectible. Vintage barkcloth of the atomic ’Eames era’ in particular has become highly desirable, and reproductions and appropriations are now available. Barkcloth produced in the 1940’s to the 1960’s can still be found in junk shops, flea markets and on eBay, sometimes going for a steal. In the past Barkcloth was almost exclusively used for interiors, but these days it’s heavier weight and durable texture plus it’s nostalgic and often kitschy prints have inspired sewers to produce some fantastic accessories like this clutch.

So whether if you pick up a vintage piece, or splash out on some fantastic repro barkcloth, you will be ensuring the spirit of this 20th Century phenomenon lives on!

I just came across this lovely set of vintage embroidery transfers on Flickr. I do a little embroidery from time to time, and this set is sparking a few ideas.

I’m especially in love with the little delicate flower motifs. Not long ago, I came across a pair of vintage tap pants in an antique shop. They were a delicate shell pink silk with tonal embroidery of flowers and the name “Betty” in a flowing script. They were just gorgeous. Now all I can think of is making myself some silk loungewear with beautiful embroidered motifs like these.

Definitely check out the rest of this set of embroidery!

I am loving these unusual details on this dress from Violetville Vintage. It trims the pockets and back of the dress just perfectly. Even though the dress is a quintessential 50s style, to me the trim could also read deco on a different garment.

This looks to me like it’s probably done with strips of bias tape sewn together. In fact, if you look very very closely at the last detail shot, you can see that the grainline is diagonal. Just add a little cutout to your pocket and this would be pretty easy to replicate!

The responses to Jaime’s post last week about buttons and buttonholes was so fascinating! I was particularly interested to learn that some of you really prefer the look of handstitched buttonholes.

I thought I’d share these diagrams with you from one of my many vintage sewing books. They show three variations on the handstitched buttonhole: the plain buttonhole, the buttonhole with bar, and the tailored buttonhole with a corded edge, which is the most intriguing to me.

I can’t say that I’ve ever done a buttonhole by hand, only machine-stitched or bound. I can see now how pretty it would be in silk thread or perle cotton, as some of you mentioned last week. Given that I’m on a real back-buttoning blouse kick lately, I may give one of these a try soon!