Vintage buttons, thanks to MPB!

I was going to wait till the shirt was done, but the post on Male Pattern Boldness about the Chelsea Flea market was one I had to respond to in more than a comment.

 I had visited New York once in 1987, but didn’t know that there were any flea markets in the city (for all I know there weren't back then!)  It wasn't till I started seeing Peter's frequent posts on his amazing finds that I began to wish I too could rummage round the tables of junk/objects of desire  and wander the garment district looking for fabric stores.

When I got the chance to visit NY with my daughter for a week in January, the Chelsea Flea market was high on our agenda.  And at one of the indoor markets I found these beautiful buttons.

hand made  thread buttons

They are made by winding thread over a ring (in this case metal rings, often originally horn rings) and advertise themselves proudly as wash proof.  Which indeed they are.  Since they were a little discolored with age, I snipped one off the card and dropped it gingerly into a bowl of warm water with a little oxygen bleach in it.  Fifteen minutes later, it had come quite clean (as you can see if you look at the left button on the  second top row - my test wash).

The buttons are all washed now, waiting to be put on a shirt made from silk found at Mood fabrics and destined to be worn only on special occasions then lovingly hand washed.  More next post on the shirt (including its anti-slippage seam binding).  For now, THANKYOU PETER for blogging about the Flea market (and for your kind email about the fashion centre information kiosk)