What can you do with just one button?

I've got some really amazing buttons in my stash and often lamented to myself, if only they had a matching mate! Here are my three favorite uses for forlorn yet fancy buttons:

1. Find that perfect one-button project that needs something special to make it stand out. I recently knit a cozy for my smartphone using some handspun I found in my stash (in the festivus colorway, no less!), and went scavenging through my button bins to find the perfect finishing button.

Tea Leaves

2. Have a show-stopping 'accent' button at the top of the sweater, and similarly-colored buttons that match each other for the rest of the buttonholes. This is my new favorite trick, one I employed to great effect on my Tea Leaves Cardigan.

3. Let go of the notion that all your notions must all look alike and button your sweater with a hodgepodge of mismatched buttons! I got this idea from a sweater model in Ysolda Teague's TNNA booth in Columbus - it was such a cute idea, I intend to try it out for myself sometime soon!

Shameless self-promotion: If you'd like to try this at home (and I recommend that you do!) I've got all kinds of one-of-a-kind buttons in my etsy shop - all of my hand-picked grab bags feature an assortment of vintage buttons, and I make a point to ensure there are several sets of matching buttons mingling with their mismatched milieu.

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handmade by stefanie

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