Earlier this year, I showed you how I organise my thread and also my refashioning stash. Today I thought I'd share my solution for keeping my buttons stash neat, tidy and organised.
... clear, plastic containers stacked in a drawer - simple and works for me. The Decor containers were once in use in my kitchen and those with blue lids, Mr TMW picked up at a reject shop. So, in effect, the cost was very little.
Most of the containers are stacked three deep, which does mean I have to take the top ones out to see those at the bottom. It only takes a few seconds and means they don't take up much space.
As you can see, I also have elastic in the same drawer, both in a plastic bag and the cardboard boxes at the back.
With the bag of elastic removed, it's easier to see the containers at the very back. There's still a few empty ones, so room for my stash to grow. In fact, since taking the photos, I've added my latest vintage button finds.
The small containers are also very handy for storing bag making supplies and charms for zipper pulls.
Here are some more, mostly low cost, ways to store buttons. Many of them use items you probably already have at home and involve repurposing:
- Button Cards
- Bucket Button Storage
- IKEA Spice Jars
- Fabric Covered Jewellery Trays
- Vintage Button Drawers
- Spice Rack
- Wine Glasses
- Vintage Blue Ball Jars
- Spice Rack
- Wooden Trays
- Rajtan Spice Jars
- Tic Tac Containers
- Repurposing a Jar
- Baby Food Jar Pincushion and Button Storage
- Clear Compartmental Storage Trays
- DVD Boxes
- Plastic Storage Tubes
- Washi Tape Button Storage
- Three Tiered Rack
- Baby Food Jars
How do you store or display your buttons? Leave me a link if you've written a blog post, or take a photo and email me. I'd love to have a look and see your ideas. Maybe I could do a roundup, linking back to your blogs and showing your photos. I wonder how many different ideas we could come up with, between us all?
... Pam
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My buttons are sorted - mainly by colour, and then some by theme, and some by material (Mother of Pearl etc.). Most of them are stored in glass jars, some are in decorative boxes, some are in small tin containers (i.e. breath mints containers), and some are in plastic divided boxes. Some are on my sewing table because they haven't been put away after use, some are on the stand my TV is on, and some are on a storage shelf in a room in the basement. Oh - the storage shelf is on the floor leaning on one of my freezers, because it hasn't been hung yet. Basically - it's a semi-organized mess! I should hit the $ store and pick up a dozen matching containers and clean up the disarray! The prettiest storage I use is the glass canning jars, but they take up a lot of space because some of them are the bigger jars. I'd really prefer everything to match, which is why I might just do the $ store/plastic container (or small glass jars) thing :D
ReplyDeleteI love to store my buttons and sewing odds and ends in unique shaped jelly and preserve jars! The look so pretty on my sewing room shelving. I can roll the jars to look for buttons. My grandson can help me match them when I need more than one.
ReplyDeleteThe jelly and preserve jars sound fabulous, Jeannie and great that you can roll the jars to find the buttons you want.
DeleteMy button stash is not huge, so they are stored in clear divided container from a craft store. I have 2 of them, and the buttons are stored by color. If my stash grows bigger, those kitchen containers look like a great idea :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the ideas, Pam!! I store my buttons and also beads in small glass coffee jars and some transparent plastic broad bean boxes that I saved for over 2 years.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this idea. I have each set in plastic snack bags which is great for keeping them together, but them they are all jumbled in my big fabric button box--hard to dig through. Your idea is much better. I also have all the hardware piling up with the same problem. As soon as I get back from my vacation, I shall be scouring the internet for the appropriate boxes!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I did learn early on is that the old idea of a giant bunch of button in some big glass or tin container will result in scratched, dull buttons. I love the look of a huge pile of colorful buttons, but did not like finding that the buttons were damaged when it came time to use them.
I used to love sitting sorting my mum's buttons into coloured piles - she used to keep them in a big Roses chocolate tin! I made myself little colour co-ordinated drawstring bags to hang mine on my sewing desk. Here's the link to pictures: http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/sewing-desk-makeover-final-reveal.html
ReplyDeleteI am nowhere near as organised as you Pam! My buttons are stored in a couple of biscuit tins, but I do love rifling through them when I need a button. It brings back memories of doing the same with my mum's and gran's button tins!
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous of your button stash! :) Love your organizing style Pam! My buttons are tossed in a box, sadly. ha ha
ReplyDeleteExcellent way to organize, should go to visit you for inspiration. Excellent idea and as the containers are transparent is easy to identify what you want. Superb ideas, thanks for sharing, hast given me inspiration and willingness to run to arrange all my buttons. Right now my buttons are in clear containers, small containers, large containers, some in Ziploc bags .... no order... :( and I spend hours looking for the button I want, it's a shame ....
ReplyDeleteVery organised! My buttons could do with a good sort out for practical reasons, they're all in old tins or glass jars, so I have to rummage to find what I want. But I have strong memories of rummaging through and playing with my Mum's enormous basket (which sadly fell to pieces - perhaps too much rummaging!) of mixed buttons, so I do quite like having to go through the searching process! And the children always love it when the buttons are out too. I do have a few types sorted a bit more - like my mother of pearl buttons, I use those quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to be organized! I turned an extra bedroom into a sewing studio last year and posted about it. Here's a link to the room's accessories, including my button storage. http://secondchancesbysusan.blogspot.com/search/label/sewing%20studio
ReplyDeleteI have a button collection that I need to organize so that colors are easier to find
ReplyDeleteThe idea of jars is a good one does anyone have any other ideas?