[lace-chat] Re: Button Boxes

[Tamara P. Duvall]

I do have a button box. Or, rather, one of those little tool-chests 
with drawers -- like Alice's, I think -- where different colours of 
buttons are sorted out (and white ones sorted out further). They don't 
get used much these days (except the shirt ones), because I no longer 
sew. I also have a "real" button box -- much less organised (only 3 
compartments) -- which houses my Mother's and my MIL's collections of 
buttons. The buttons there tend to be in smaller batches, usually only 
2-3 of a kind, and even less useful. But too pretty (or sentimental, in 
case of my Mother's collection) to throw away :)

On Mar 24, 2004, at 14:29, Tatdlace wrote:

One of the reasons people may no longer keep button boxes is that we 
use more zipper closures now and wear more T-shirts and sweatshirts 
that don't require buttons.
Ah, but we -- at least people here on this list -- will not be deprived 
of the fun of collecting and pawing through "small suff" even so <g> 
It's been *years* since I last used spangled bobbins/had to spangle a 
bobbin but do I throw away my bead collection?  Nope, not even the ones 
which have always been too big for spangling. I even add to it every 
once in a while, when I "meet" something irresistible (have great hopes 
for Prague, as Czech glass is even more famous than Czech lace <g>). 
Ditto "findings"; the last time I needed any was 4-5 yrs ago. But I 
still keep the collection -- nicely sorted, of course; that's part of 
the fun -- and also add to it once in a while. Who knows when they 
might come in handy?

Louise Colgan has found a novel (and charming, IMO) way of using her 
button collection... Every student who takes a workshop from her gets a 
button at the end, to pin to the pillow for luck (a variant of putting 
a button on a spangle, I suppose). When I took it, there were some 
people in my class, veterans of her workshops, with 5 or more buttons 
-- sewn onto a ribbon, which was then pinned to the pillow. Ever since, 
I never pass a fabric store without checking the buttons; if I come 
accross some nice (and relatively inexpensive) ones, I buy them and, 
when I have a small bundle of them, I send them to her. That way, I can 
still indulge in my passion for buttons, but know that they won't 
languish unseen... :)


 People are more likely to
send the whole garment to thrift shops these days,
with all of the buttons attached. Sadly it seems that
fewer people do their own cooking or their own sewing
so that many of the younger generation wouldn't even
comprehend what a button box was for.
    My MIL and SIL are the only people that I know,
who not only keep their buttons, but actually sew
them in size and colour co-ordinated patches onto
a large square of fabric. Which I find really
peculiar because neither of them sews! It's very
organized (can anyone say ANAL) but what's the
point if you have no plans to ever use them?
Sharon Briggs
in Toronto, Canada
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-----
Tamara P Duvall
Lexington, Virginia,  USA
Formerly of Warsaw, Poland
http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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