The Button Box Part 1

7.24.2007

Grandma's button box

One of the things I took home when we cleaned out my grandparents house was my Grandma's button box. It is the sweetest little box that was full of all these treasures. There were purple buttons all strung together and lots of pearl buttons that would have come from my grandpas work shirts. Along with all the buttons there were religious medals, thimbles and cardboard rulers. I don't use the buttons from the box very often, I feel as if they are to precious to use. Many of the buttons were cut from dresses, jackets and shirts. As I sift through the box I feel a connection to my grandma. I see how frugal she could be; clipping off hooks from the backs of dresses and how religious with the crosses and Mary pins.

I am named for my Grandma, Margaret, and I look very much like her. Looking through this box I also know that I am very much like her, a saver and a crafter, and although we usually wear plain clothes we both do love a splash of purple.

15 comments:

Andy said...

Always good to have a useful box to keep things in, with a bit of sentimental value etc....

Anonymous said...

My grams has a button box too. My mom, aunts and uncle are always fighting over who will be allowed to have it after she passes. Morbid I know, but it's become a family joke.

I always thought it was wonderful that something so simple could hold such value.

Blue said...

Very sentimental, at least youll have something to hold onto, like you said its a box full of treasures

Escargo(t) said...

I played with a button box when I was younger and on holiday this year at my mum's, I have just introduced it to my kids! I used to pretend they were people.I wonder what they are pretending?

http://intokuwait.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I just found your blog and the first post I read was the Button Box. I too have my grandmother's name and she had a button drawer in the stand her treadle Singer sewing machine sat on.

My brother and I would spend hours playing with the buttons. One of our favorites was to put a button on a string and tie the ends together. We would hold an end in each hand and swing it like a skipping rope in front of us to "wind it up" and then stretch it out and let it spin back in. Not sure I've explained it well but it's one of my fondest childhood memories.

ifax said...

:( I think I want to cry. 20-30 years ago when most of us were children, we had real hobbies and played real sports. Now, most of the kids today play to much video games and virtual stuff instead of taking of a hobby or a sport. I have to say, I wish the kids of the future will have as many good memories as you guys have.

Rosie said...

I'm 15 and have just spent the last couple of days burying my gorgeous grandma and trying to sort out her house with my dad. Sadly, we didn't find any buttons but her collection of crystal ornaments and porcelain dolls got me remembering. Going through someone elses house is such a strange thing to do, but somehow magical.

Heidi said...

Fantastic Blog! i love crafting too. We moved to Costa Rica two years ago and due to mostly the climate and access to stuff to craft with, I don't do as much as I used to. I really, really miss crafting and doing projects with friends. I'm going to use your blog to inspire me to craft when/how I can down here.
thanks,
heidi

On with the blather said...

My grandmother also had a button box that I would sort through. Having button boxes must be a grandmother thing. Maybe the older generation was just thrifty. Oh by the way... I was named for my great, great, great grandmother.

Anonymous said...

Well written!!!

Katie D. said...

i've always wanted my grandmother's buttons, and last week they sold them in a garage sale.

Barb Smith said...

This will make no sense at all but just seeing the picture of your "button box" brought tears to my eyes.

You see, my mother died 16 years, 4 months, 13 days ago (can you tell it still pains me deeply?)...and I have HER button box. Just an old plastic box full of every kind and shape of button imaginable. But I can't bear to part with a one of them. I just carry it with me and keep it near...I mean, ya never know when you might need a button...or a touch of Mom from days gone by.

Thanks for the memories.

Pearl said...

I love buttons. I live near a shop that supplies buttons to the wardrobe departments for film-makers, and you can get cheap bags of leftovers that you buy by weight. The more obsessional of my friends love sorting them, and on the odd occasion that I'm commissioned to embroider something, there'll probably be some buttons in there somewhere! I must find something prettier to keep my buttons in, they deserve better than an old ice-cream tub.

Pete Moring. said...

This is a magical blog. Well done for keeping it real with your family. Buttons somehow ARE magical. I remeber when I was young and my mother seemed to be always sewing something or other with 'yes' her button jar (not tin) by her side.

She regularly won 1st prize ribbons at our local village 'flower show'. But more embarrassingly, she would make our school trousers for us out of material that really wasn't quite right.

She did have a beautiful fruitwood sewing box with mother-of-pearl features which kept the rest of her nick-nacks together. Never knew what happened to that. I'd like to think it's still floating around out there somewhere being cherished by it's new owner.

The very best wishes for you and yours.

Pete.

violetlady said...

I just found your blog and really enjoy it. I have put it on my blogs I read list.
My daughter and I have buttons that belonged to my mother (her Nanny). Last year she knit me a beautiful scarf out of a lovely ecru colored wool and trimmed the end of it with "Nanny's Buttons." She tied a label to it -- "Nanny's Button Box Scarf." I treasure it.