The Sewing Place

Buttons

wrenkins

Re: Buttons
« Reply #15 on: September 21, 2018, 12:21:32 PM »
My mum knit for us most of our lives but no-one ever knit for her (she had no mummy  :() so about four years ago I knit her a cardigan. The perfect one that she loved with a collar and two pockets in her favourite blend of colours. As I was knitting it I was thinking about her button tin and wondering were the big brown buttons from her 1960s cardy still there. Yes they were and yes there were enough! Result! She was absolutely delighted with it and even recognised the buttons.  :)
Harbouring resentment is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die!

Silver Rose

Re: Buttons
« Reply #16 on: September 21, 2018, 12:43:04 PM »
Memories indeed @So Chic I keep all my odd buttons in a little tin 4" x 3" which I have had since 1961 when I was newly married.The tin which was a Christmas gift from the 2 old ladies who lived in the flat below us contained  6 toffees. Every time I go to it I think of those 2 spinster friends who were in their late 80s. We didn't stay long in that flat, when we had saved enough to move to a larger unfurnished one and buy our first furniture we moved on. I was only 18 but I had a sewing basket and an old hand cranked Jones sewing machine. I've come along way since then.
Still learning

BrendaP

Re: Buttons
« Reply #17 on: September 22, 2018, 15:35:33 PM »
For years I had a biscuit tin full of buttons, but they multiplied and one day I got very organised and bought a set of little plastic drawers from B&Q so now they are sorted by colour.  I use them as and when but they still seem to multiply and some of the drawers are overflowing.  There's now also a jam jar for the sets of shirt buttons.

Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.

HenriettaMaria

Re: Buttons
« Reply #18 on: September 26, 2018, 22:07:33 PM »
I've got a tin of buttons with smaller pots inside so they're sorted by type as I got fed up of going through the whole lot to find what I was after.  I've used them on craft projects such as cushion covers as well as reusing shirt and blouse buttons from time to time.

My mother had a biggish box that she'd accumulated until one day my dad, *without asking*, took them to school (he was a teacher) for the CDT department.  She hit the roof!  His response was bafflement, "but you never use them".  And this from somebody who had a double garage you could only get one car in for all the stuff *he* kept 'just in case'.  Men!

Nevis5

Re: Buttons
« Reply #19 on: September 27, 2018, 06:10:09 AM »
I'm another one who seems to have inherited lots of orphan buttons from various members of the family.  Like Brenda I've sorted them into colours into plastic drawers which helps a bit and I always try and find suitable candidates for anything I sew.  Nine times out of ten, though, I can't find what's in my mind's eye so I end up buying more.  Sigh.  I'm hopeless  :S

Esme866

Re: Buttons
« Reply #20 on: October 14, 2018, 18:12:57 PM »
I think my buttons might fill a shoebox. Buttons from Mom, Oma and Grandma - and then thete was the 10 cents a card sale when Hancock Fabric shut down - and I was in the store when the sale was announced!

Grandma gave me a cup or so of shirt buttons she rescued swept from the factory floor where she worked. I've seen a shirt jacket made with a double row of shirt buttons sewn around the v-neck and down the front. I think the hem at the wrist may have also been buttoned.  As soon as I get this type of pattern to fit - that"s what I want to do with Grandma's buttons.

I've also recently been noticing various coordinated buttons on various pieces of RTW.

But mostly, they are such a pleasant visual and tactile sensation.

Though Mom did only recently tell me I almost died swallowing a 3/4" mother of pearl button with a metal shank when I was a toddler. Not breathing and blue by the time we reached the ER.

Finally - an explanation as to why it took me decades to be able to swallow meds!

Tamnymore

Re: Buttons
« Reply #21 on: October 14, 2018, 21:23:01 PM »
I had to tip out my button box today to find some for my current proiect - shirt made from varuna wool and tartan silk dupion. Gosh I found loads I had forgotten about. Most come from a local charity shop where the habrdashery lady thoughtfully sews sets of buttons onto cards. She also puts the date on the back so it's interesting to see how long I've had some of them. About 6 years since you ask- not long in Tamny stash world!
'One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.' Oscar Wilde