Extra Buttons

 

When I worked in what locals call the the real world I dressed for success and spent a fortune at Macy's to do that. Every silk blouse of blazer came with an extra button or two. Some were sewn on an inside seam. Others came in a little envelope manufactured for the purpose. I would put them in a small drawer of a jewelry chest my father made for me. I do not recall ever losing a button and having to search the little bags for the button that went with that shirt or blazer or coat. I still have those buttons, never know when you might need a button, though I doubt I still have any of the clothing items they went with.

My wardrobe as an artist and gardener living on 2.5 acres of land in the mountains of New Mexico my wardrobe is quite different. Much of it comes from the local thrift store. I need to go on Saturday because it will no doubt have a wealth of new items donated by the summer residents going back to their "real" homes. Last Saturday I scored a pure wool black winter coat with an extra button still sewn on the inside. It is a fine city or dress for best coat that reminds me of the one Sherlock wears in the Masterpiece series. It makes me feel good just looking at it. 

But it is not the sort of thing one wears frequently in my current life. It is that time winter coats come out of the upstairs box room closet and get moved to hooks in the entry hall. I noticed the faithful Carhart jacket has gotten worn around the cuffs and due to Covid "diet" is a bit snug so I put it in the pile to go to the thrift store. It has a lot of good use in it yet. Carhart jackets last forever. And I ordered a new Levi's Strauss Women's Four Pocket hooded Field Jacket in Army Green to replace it. I stacked firewood in it yesterday and it is perfect. The pockets are big enough for the smart phone. Levi's has finally gotten the word on pockets, and that real women do real work which require field jackets in colors other than pink.

And yes it came with an extra button in a 2 x 2 inch brown craft paper envelope with Levi's printed on it. The button is printed with Levi's & Straus Co. twice. It is a very nice button. And given the use the new "work coat" will be put to may actually be needed. Obviously it should go to the button drawer of the jewelry chest. I bought a whole bag of wooden buttons recently. I bought them to use a catches and decorations on the items I am sewing for Fabric Arts by Jacqui  Wild Goose Witchery line. I am also using some of my extensive collection of beads too.

I love buttons. They are in the same category as pocket rocks. Mother had an old fruit cake tin full of buttons. They were from her mother and grandmother. I would spend hours when I sewed most of my own clothes looking though that tin to find four or five buttons which matched. Before Mother would consign a garment to the rag pile she would cut off all the buttons and put them in that tin. I no longer have the tin but another container which holds extra buttons. At thrift stores I have bought items I didn't like and knew I would never wear just so I could cut off the buttons.

Now I have gotten to the point where I ask myself why must buttons match. Why do they need a purpose. I am thinking of going to my drawer with all those extra buttons and take them out of their little bags and sew them on to something just for the joy of it. In a pattern or not. For a use or not. Maybe just a hanging for the wall. Extra buttons I have known and loved.

Does the new Levi's button go there?

Note: The orchid at the top is just an extra photograph which found a home in my jpg files which may be the digital equivalent of an extra button tin.

And the male equivalent of a tin of buttons may be a tin of screws, nuts and bolts. And I have one of those too. Out in the sticks you may need a one and not have the time to run to the hardware store.