So many of us have a tin or box of buttons. Usually it is handed down from our grandma and we just keep adding to it, and adding and adding….
A few months ago a friend gave me her mother’s box. Her mother moved into a senior citizen home and my friend asks me to sew on a button for her here and there.
The center tin is my original box, you can see that my buttons were getting out of hand and I decided that it was time to actually do some arranging and creating a better system, so that I can actually find a button, or a set when I need them
The easiest was to gather the sets that are still on cards, I decided to include all my wooden button into this group as well.
Original tin is still pretty messy, it is now colored buttons, medium to large size. Yes, I probably only have 3 or 4 of a set, but sometimes, that is enough.
White and very pale buttons get their own box.
Metal! If you notice there is a square button with green thread – yes, this came from my friend’s mom, many of her buttons were removed from suits and coats. She got rid of the garments but figured these nice set of buttons might come in handy. Like when you buy a nice suit with cheap buttons (happens all the time), and you have nice ones on hand to replace them with. I also have a box of plastic buttons that look like metal, I think I bought a whole bag of them for $3.
Medium to small colored buttons.
Tiny buttons, really tiny.
Here they are in comparison to a 1″ and 1.25″ button. 
Mother of Pearl, comes in different shapes (square, fish) as well as a few that are dyed, (blue, red).
Nice neat boxes all lined up.
And stored away in a drawer. Just the other day Joel needed a simple white button for a dress shirt, the kind you take to the cleaners and have the seamstress there put a new one on. It was so easy to go to the white box and immediately find what I wanted.
A few months ago I organized my fabric, now it’s the buttons. Sure the fabrics aren’t quite as neat as they were, but they are still folded nicely and are not in a jumble. I think having a system for the buttons will make a difference as well. And now, back to actually making something.
Leah