As a child I had a winter sweater with hood knitted by my mother which had a "houtje touwtje" closure under my chin to keep the hood on my head. Later as a teen I had an Afghan "houtje touwtje" jas which was very popular in that time. So how do I explain what's a "houtje touwtje" ? Well, "houtje touwtje" is dutch and literally it means "bit of wood - bit of string", and it represents an elongated button or toggle button with 2 holes, that closes with a piece of string. The "houtje touwtje" is an ancient button closure which became immensely popular after the second world war because of general Montgomery. The allied hero was always seen in his military duffle coat with toggle closure. On the photograph below of 1946 the royal dutch family poses in those duffle coats with the "houtje touwtje" closure.
I did a search on the internet for modern toggle buttons and found some great specimens:
1. Deer antler from AntlerQLWear
2. Polymer clay from mightbekatrina
3. Oak branches from thebuttonshop
4. Wood from LovingLeeCrafted
5. Wood veneer from rippleriverstudio
6. Ceramics from BranchDesigns
7. Bamboo from SpinBlessing
8. Plastic from ButtonJars
9. Metal from ButtonJars
10. Wood from shopangelico
11. Wood from mgi1289
12. Plastic from vinpapa
13. Plastic from Buttonsgalore
14. Plastic from azsolla
15. Bone from wiccked
16. Ceramics from Lisa Peters Art
