Beads and Buttons

Buttons (repost from October 2016)

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Do you love buttons as much as I do? I thought it would be fun to re-post this post from October 2016 on my button collection (smile)

BUTTONS (Repost post from October 26, 2016)

I just wanted to randomly post about one of my guilty pleasures in life – buttons!

I did not to intend to collect buttons, my button collection just sort of crept up on me…

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Trying to be organized with my button collection

I am not sure how it began but I remember as a little girl playing with my grandmother’s button jar and being fascinated.

Then, many years later, my love of buttons was rekindled when I started making miniature kimono wallhangings and wanted to embellish them with interesting buttons.

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Miniature Kimono with an antique button

I began picking up interesting buttons here and there – from craft shows, from shift shops, antique shops, and from a bookstore.

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Card of antique buttons picked up at a used bookstore

I was even lucky enough to have a friend who let me raid her old button collection in search of cool buttons for miniature kimonos.

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A couple of these buttons were raided from my friend’s antique button collection

This past May, my friend Dana, who was my “secret quilt sister” at our annual quilting retreat, surprised me with an “Vintage Button Jar” as part of my gift.

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The jar contained lots of fun buttons such as the ones below:

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Some cool large buttons courtesy of my friend Dana

Upon returning home from the retreat I attempted to cram my entire button collection into my new “Vintage Button Jar” but my collection was overflowing from the jar.

So now I keep the jar in my sewing studio to hold small packages and cards of special buttons.

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Anyone else have an issue with buttons? Any secret (or not so secret) collectors?

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Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

29 thoughts on “Buttons (repost from October 2016)”

  1. Yep I have a button collection lol. Some lovely vintage ones, some sets on cards and lots of jam jars full of buttons sorted by colour. Had planned on making myself a special board and mounting them for display but never got around to it.

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  2. I have several jars of buttons! Mostly novelty decorated wooden ones that I use to inspire little paintings. I wouldn’t necessarily put them on garments for the most part but there are some super cute doggy ones I’ve used for kids stuff. I also just bought two lots of tiny (3mm and 6mm), colourful buttons with the idea of making mandala designs with them for coasters.

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  5. I. LOVE. BUTTONS! One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to sort through mom’s cookie tin filled with buttons. Mom’s button collection is now included in my collection. I hit recycle shops, Goodwill, and antique shops, in search of buttons. There is an antique shop near my son’s house in Round Rock that often has some jars and tins filled with goodies. 

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  6. Buttons are fabulous! I made button necklaces in college and sold a few to local shops and a few friends. If a button has been removed from a garment, I think it has a secret to share. New and unused buttons are just waiting in the wings.

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  7. PS It’s really nice when our friends “get us.” That jar of vintage buttons is a fabulous and personal gift.

    A few years ago I bought six small jars with tight fitting lids and sorted my buttons by color groups. I like the way they look in order of color and it’s practical, too, when I need to make a quick mend. Buttons are unsung treasures.

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  11. Oh to play in a grandmother’s button jar is truly a childhood delight. When my Nana passed, I got her button jar which my girls enjoyed exploring when they were littles. I think buttons are a gift that keep on giving.

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  12. I’ve a bit of a collection but a lot of them have used to cover some containers that were from the 1970s and then I spray painted the 3 containers glossy black.

    But do have a rather big collection of beads, some of which were gifted to me along with the materials to do other things with them, a lot of fine wire. From time to time, I will create or sew them…

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