Barb's Fabric Blog

Nuts for Nutz!

A few months ago we brought a new button into stock...a dramatic dyed corozo nut, sliced in irregular, potato chip shaped disks with the outer bark intact.  What a stunning statement for a one button jacket or vest or multiples on a richly textural sweater.  Well, turns out we weren't the only ones who loved the button...along with being very popular with our customers, our supplier recently introduced an additional range of colors!  We were ecstatic when we opened the delivery package!  Oohs and aahs all around for the rich fruity colors that will work so well this spring!  Dixie made a bee line for the camera and got the pics up in the web store right away!  Enjoy!!!

Starting at 12:05   Spearmint, Tomato, Olive, Mocha, Almond, Raspberry, Lilac, Strawberry, Mustard, Cornflower and the yellow in the center is Butterscotch.  Yummmmm!

Remember, as with all natural buttons, the shapes vary quite a bit.  We can try to hand pick for you if you give us some guidance, but the variance is part of their glory!

Nutz

When a Plan Comes Together

Due to the way we buy, we don't always have the luxury of purchasing buttons that we know will go with a specific fabric.  Instead, we purchase with certain colors and styles in mind.  Because we have an extensive collection, most often we are able to find a button that meets each customer's specific requirements.  We do spend a lot of time doing the matches...as if the project were our own.  Is that practical for a bottom-line business plan--no!  Will we ever do it any other way-no!  We are committed to providing the best quality service to our customers and know that they rely on us to do just that. 

Recently Dixie was matching buttons for our current collection!  Look what she found!

We all get so excited when the elements of color and style come together to create an amazing story!  This rayon/wool chenille is breathtakingly beautiful with its slight copper sparkle.  Picking up on the copper and turquoise, this unique metal button with just the right patina was the perfect choice for jacket or vest closures. 

Botanica

Dixie and I have been starving for some new and unusual buttons. This one just came across our desk last week and we have it in stock already--truly unusual to turn around that quickly.  What struck us about this button besides its obvious beauty and artistry, was the muted and antiqued colors in rhubarb, sage and taupe. The edges are treated to simulate distress and if you read Dixie's copy on the site, she sees a very subtle glitter to the background.  Although these are colors normally associated with fall, they are soft enough that they could easily adorn an earth-toned spring sweater or jacket.

We are eagerly awaiting a shipment from Italy with custom buttons that should arrive in early April.  You'll be the first to know!

Creative Collaboration--What a Hoot!

What fun we had at the button table yesterday!  A customer came in to buy fabric and match buttons.  She was using the Loes Hinse Bolero Jacket pattern to make two statement jackets.  For one she chose The Vineyard fabric from our Autumn I collection, a silk tweed in bright plum, bottle green, natural and black.  The other was fabric she already owned. She needed a great one-button closure to  complete each vision. We suggested a few buttons, but her eye caught Belize in Violet--Would this work?  We pulled the drawer, admittedly thinking, "whoa, this will be very busy on the bold tweed fabric"! But no, the concept was going to work!  When I pointed out that there were variations in the color balance of each button, we hunted around to find the one with the most green--Voila!  What a great collaboration of vision...we loved the final decision! 

Her other fabric was an upholstery fabric which had a burnished copper ground with chenille dots in soft golds and olives.  The fabric was terrific and made a statement on its own.  To find just the right button was challenging...we tried many possibilities and had almost settled on one.  Then I remembered we had just brought in new colors of our fabulous Hoot button.(not yet in photo)  This is a statement button for sure!  Everyone in the shop loved it.  We can't wait to see the finished jackets.     

New Pic coming soon with all the colors!!

This is the fun of each day at the warehouse.  We never know what will keep our creative energies flowing, but there's always some challenge to waken the spirit and we dive in with gusto to a design project, be it ours or our customer's.