January 13, 2006
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The Old Button Jug
As long as I can remember
there has always been a big glass jug of buttons around home. I
loved looking at them, playing with them, feeling them when I was a kid
and when my kids were little they loved looking at them at Grandma’s
house. Buttons were a great toy for someone with imagination (I
guess we didn’t worry about choking hazard back then). Somewhere
along the line I inherited my own jug of buttons. You might
wonder where all these buttons came from. And you might wonder
what in the world a person does with them! To answer the latter
first, you’d be amazed how often I need a button for this or
that. I heave the jug (it must weight 25 lbs or more) up and
start dumping buttons. I can usually find an acceptable button
for what I need. It’s always fun to look at them – an incredible
variety, some so old you really wonder what kind of garb they came
off.Where they came from is a story in itself. In my family there is
an old, old loom, a great big floor loom. It’s really beautiful
and it was handmade by someone way back when. It’s been used for
several generations now to make rag rugs for the floors. Nothing
fancy but definitely serviceable and nearly indestructible. In
order to make those rag rugs, a person needs lots of rags. Old
clothes no one wants or needs. And those old clothes usually had
lots of buttons on them. As my grandmother made strips of cloth
out of the rags (my grandfather was the weaver), she cut off all the
buttons and saved them. Over time, quite a few buttons
accumulated. So that’s the story of where they came from.
I’m still using the strips of cloth my grandma made and wound into rag
balls as I weave on the loom. I suppose it’s inevitable that someday I’ll need to make
strips myself and then I’ll be the one cutting off the buttons for some
future generation to enjoy. That’s a nice thought.
