The Calico Dress
17931 McDonald Grove Rd K0C 1T0 Maxville, ON, Canada

So, what's up with vegetable ivory? Vegetable Ivory Buttons (VI) are some of my favorite types of buttons. They are made from the Tagua Nut, which is the see...d that is found on certain Palm Trees, mainly in South America. They were initially widely used to make buttons back in the 1880s by a button manufacturer in Rochester NY. Before plastics came into play, approximately 20% of all buttons were made from vegetable ivory. The tagua nut is very pliable and relatively easy to carve, sometimes with extreme intricacy by talented carvers. It was used for many other things such as netsukes and jewelry. As far as buttons, they were mass produced with most being rather ordinary clothing buttons, BUT, there are some that were carved and pierced that really are extraordinary and often overlooked by collectors. For new collector's, it's a great subject to start with as they can be inexpensive and rather easy to find, although there are some very pricey and Fabulous Carved Vegetable Ivory Buttons and worth every penny. Vegetable Ivory buttons are still being made today as they are very eco friendly Elephants love Vegetable Ivory and I love elephants and VI No Just There is lots of information out there on VI buttons including a book by Pat and David Fields 'From Nut to Button' and if any of you VI experts out there, (I personally know of one) that know far more than I, would like to comment with any other factoids or resources, that would be great! Spread the info! Feel free to share this post. Here are some examples that I have in my collection or have shared with others. All images are mine with the exception of the non buttony images, nuts and trees and stuff.

Coming up this SUNDAY, August 2nd - Fabric 101: How to ID Fabric by Fiber, Weave, and Fire! Be sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel for a notification when ...the video posts - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWLNaVKBl4EskUQUXWRZkew This weekend marks the first ever CoCoVid, an online costuming conference choc full of videos and events to enjoy from home. We're stoked to be a part of it and hope you enjoy our little contribution.