Recycled Buttons

When I was in the midst of indecision regarding a closure for my iPad covers, the one thing that I was sure of was that I was going to finally utilize the stash of buttons sitting on a shelf in my studio.  The buttons are a mix of buttons that I have collected over the last 20 years as well as buttons that were found in the sewing room of my ex's grandmother when she passed away in the late 80s. I had written a post about them long ago and I always had great intentions to do something with these old buttons.

My husband commented as I was sewing this last batch of iPad covers that he was amazed how I was able to find just the perfect button for each cover.  As he was digging through the stash, he guessed the age of some of them...not quite vintage, but some do appear to be from the 1970s and 1980s.  I call them recycled, because many of them still had the thread that originally held them to whatever garment they were salvaged from and as a survivor of the The Great Depression it appears that she saved everything. 

I guess her thriftiness is my windfall.

Bag O' Buttons

I was rummaging through the an old Rubber Maid container that holds some of the sewing supplies that I had packed away a long time ago. I found this green tin can of Katharine Beecher - Butter Mints. (The tin has a copyright date of 1981, which dashed my thoughts that I was holding a tin from the 30s or 40s). Inside I found some old Hooks Eyes & Loops some leftover buttons from projects that I am guessing I had worked on during the 80s and a Ziploc bag of old buttons.

Back in the 80s when I was dating Husband #1, his grandmother had died and he kept everything that the rest of the family did not want, (all of the ugly furniture, kitchen items and sewing tools). Of all the furniture pieces that overcrowded our apartment, there was only one piece that I loved and that was her old Singer Sewing Machine and Cabinet. When we moved to Florida back in 1990, I departed first due to school which left Husband #1 and my Dad to pack up the U-Haul. When they ran out of room, my ass of a husband decided to leave sewing machine and cabinet there on the sidewalk of NYC. I digress...When Husband #1 and I parted our separate ways, he took all the ugly furniture, but left all of his grandmother's kitchen and sewing items. Fast forward to today, as I started examining the buttons, I noticed the pieces of old thread still attached to some... When his grandmother died, I believe she was in her 80s or 90s so I know she was a young adult during the Depression, so perhaps that is why some of these button appear to have been salvaged from old garments. I thought these were cool and wanted to share. I think the crystal and brass button (center of photo) may find their way onto something soon...