well call me chopped liver..
right about when factories (mid 19th century) began to produce goods of all kinds (like pins and buttons), buttons became affordable, and started to be used on clothing of all sorts.. (they retains a remant of their historical value, that still lingers.. the jar/can/tin of used buttons, cut of worn out clothing.. that still haunts grandma's house, but the buttons in it are never used.)
imagine.. i only said, buttons used to be expensive, and womens clothing used laces.. (and failed to remind everyone that during the industrial revolution, all sorts of expensive items became inexpensive, and common place.)
as for placement, i offered only the information i have heard, repeatedly, from places diverse (include a costume designer for bbc 'historical' productions)--that women were more likely to have dressers-- and the buttons holes were placed to make it easy for the dressers, (not the wearers).
