Have you ever scored a really cute item of clothing, (hopefully for a great price) and you loved everything about it except for the buttons? Cheap buttons on an otherwise cute sweater/dress/blouse is like a pretty girl with too much makeup. You just want to shake it and teach it how to to properly use lipliner.

Sure, a button makeover isn’t something that might come to mind as you sift through racks of possibilities, but sometimes a minor upgrade is all you need to take a borderline bargain piece and make it sparkle.

Case in point:

I picked up this Croft & Barrow cardigan at Kohl’s a few months ago. It looks great on, but the giant beige plastic button is just wrong.

A few days ago I grabbed the sweater from my closet and hit up Jo-Ann Fabrics, because they have a pretty decent button selection. I didn’t want another giant button, or one much darker than the sweater, and I’ll tell you why. If you walk into a light colored kitchen and the owners have chosen dark knobs, all you see is the knobs, don’t you? Well, I think kitchen knobs should be subtle. Mine are clear glass. Pretty, but they don’t take away from the whole look.

Anyway, after scrutinizing every single button in the store, which means I must be borderline OCD, I found one that I liked.

Seashell Button

Lucky for me, it came in a two-pack and someone had (I’m guessing) stolen the other button, so the remaining one was marked 50% off.

I sewed it on while I was catching up with an old Project Runway episode from season 2, and I think my little cardigan looks much better now, don’t you? Sure, it’s a simple fix, but sometimes that’s all you need.