Buttons

This post is more of a moan than a rant. You see, I recently cleared out a drawer in my bedroom. In it were lots of really small envelopes containing buttons. Spare ones, for items of clothing I've bought over the years.

What use are these going to be? If I needed a spare button, how would I find that particular one? And then there's the extra, unnecessary packaging. As I remember, in days of yore, spare buttons used to be attached to the garments. How much better was that?

Not that I have anything against buttons per se. In fact, I'm rather fond of them and miss the days when I used to make my own clothes, take pride in the sewing of buttonholes, and found enjoyment in choosing just exactly a suitable or quirky set to finish off a dress or jacket. And I have sweet memories of how my grandmother, also a seamstress, used to entertain our elder daughter with her collection of buttons, making up characters and stories. Four grey suit buttons, tied together, were 'the four naughty boys'. A clear, colourless button was the ice-cream man, and so on.

So I'm reluctant to ditch them. Maybe I'll find a way to pass them on to someone who can have fun with a collection of single buttons. Unfortunately, I think that particular decorating trend has already passed.