A Girl and Her Buttons

As a child, I was astounded and downright mesmerized by my Aunt Sis's tins and Mason Jars full of mismatched buttons. She had one of every color and style imaginable. I loved to sort through them and dreamed they had, for sure, come from the clothes of nobility. But, in fact, I had no idea where she had acquired them or how long she had collected them. I knew why she did. She was a seamstress of sorts. Back then, that's what women did. They made their own clothes.

Sure, there were department stores, but money was scarce and the nearest stores could be miles and miles away. And there was the Sears & Roebuck's catalog to order by mail.

Some women saved their flour sacks and made clothes from them because "times were that hard" back in those days. So, they saved buttons, zippers, cloth, and thread. In fact, that generation saved most everything and considered it all to be useful one day.

"In the 1930s in the United States, sacks containing flour and grain were made of cloth, primarily cotton. The Kansas Wheat company, in the midst of the Great Depression, realized that the poorest families were reusing them to sew dresses for women and girls, so to make them more captivating they decided to print them with floral and colorful motifs."

My aunt taught me how to sew on her old Singer sewing machine. The hardest part was learning how to thread the bobbin (lower part of needle thread) which automatically did the sewing rather than hand.

When I was in high school, there was Home Economics class. Girls signed up for that class to learn to sew and cook/clean/measure. There we learned how to correctly sew on a button, make an apron, and cut out material from cloth. (Boys usually opted for "Shop" to learn to maintain cars and such.)

I never would have guessed there was a National Button Day, though. I was curious as to its origins, so I googled:

• Founded: 1938 by the National Button Society.

• Purpose: To recognize button collecting and highlight the cultural and practical significance of buttons.

• Origins: Buttons have existed for centuries, originally used as decoration before becoming essential fasteners in clothing. nationaldayreview.com+1

Today, from no-doubt passed down relics of lore such as a combination of old buttons and costume jewelry, and a heaping dose of creativity, we can "DIY" do-it-yourself arts and crafts many marvelous works.

For me, I just want to sit and think about the dreams I dreamed when I rustled through that magic collection. I will do that on November 16th!

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