BUTTON, BUTTON, WHO'S GOT THE BUTTON?

 

I love buttons!

When I was a little girl my mother had a button jar. I was fascinated with the different colors, sizes, and degree of sparkle contained in that jar. I don’t know if mothers today keep old buttons the way my mother did. I did, but then, as I said, “I love buttons!”

I have jars and jars of buttons of all different colors and sizes. My collection consists of different jars for different colors and different types. Wooden buttons, metal buttons, novelty buttons, even polka dot buttons…all have their own jars. I even separate them by size, so I won’t have to dig through huge piles of buttons to find the size I need.

I even make my own buttons. Polymer clay buttons are easy to make in any size and color. I love combining colors to get marbleized effects. They’re perfect for accents. My favorite are buttons I made from Shrinky Dinks.  Printed on an ink jet printer, punched into circles, and then using a button punch to make the holes, these come out beautiful. Of course, neither of these are washable so they don’t work for garments, but I love using them in embellished quilts. That’s my main reason for button love. I make quilts decorated with beads and buttons, so the bigger and better my collection is, the better my quilts will look.

Below is an example of how I use store bought, Shrinky Dink, and polymer clay buttons in my embellished quilts. The alphabet round buttons, the butterfly, flag, 4th and 5th, and little girl are all made by printing images on Shrinky Dinks, some of the purple buttons are polymer clay and others are store bought. 

It’s not expensive to collect buttons. I shop thrift stores and flea markets and take advantage of 40% off coupons and half price sales. I often stop by Joann’s and if I’m not using a coupon for anything else, (a lot of what I buy is on sale), I’ll pick up a card of buttons and use the coupon for them. Hobby Lobby has regular 50% off their Sewology notions, which includes buttons! I suggest not collecting shank buttons unless they’re very special. They don’t work well for quilt embellishment. Solid colors are better than pearlized, and small better than big. I always grab patterned buttons when I can find them, polka dots are always a good choice.

I was fortunate enough to inherit my grandmother’s button collection.  She was a seamstress and was one of those who clipped buttons off old garments, (another great way to grow a collection…I always take the buttons off my husband’s worn dress shirts). Her button jar consisted of several plastic boxes full of treasures. She also left me many button cards with buttons still on them. I suspect that some of them were 60 years old or older. Unfortunately, the cards themselves were in terrible condition, but the buttons are still fabulous!

When I was a little girl we had a wonderful five and dime store in our town. It was called Foote’s Variety and I can still remember how it smelled.  They had everything. Bazooka bubble gum 2 for a penny, dish towels, toys for a dime, and my favorite, cards and cards of buttons! I’d give anything to have the opportunity to go back to that time, when buttons were 45 cents a card, and gas 45 cents a gallon. It really wasn’t that long ago…

Happy Stitching!

Susan