The jacket and vest I wear for solo piping gigs has epaulets and the standard silver colored, diamond shaped buttons. At each of my last two gigs, I have managed to knock off the button on the left side (drone side, naturally). I think I'm fairly careful with my pipes, so I was surprised when I discovered that I must have snagged it again after having to sew on a replacement just hours before.

Any thoughts on a good knot or alternate thread that I could use? Should I just sew the epaulets down without a button?