Sorting Buttons

I've been sorting my old buttons and sewing them onto white card stock.  Buttons accumulated in jars and sewing boxes have a lot of history. Some have threads of long ago dresses, shirts, pants, and skirts still attached.  I sort them by type.  I love the ones that are made from shells.  I found two that are made of rubber that are quite valuable.

Here is a button that was on a robe that I had as a girl.  I remember my father taking me shopping to Sears.  I must have known something was up. My dad never took me shopping before or since, not without my mother, and then he usually sat in the car reading the paper or washing his windows and whisking out the dirt in the car with his infamous whisk broom.  So, this little button reminds me of this shopping trip when we returned home and a surprise party awaited me.  I don't remember a thing about the party, but that button reminds me of picking out that robe with my dad.

Last night, I read a piece to my writer's group and I referred to myself as a compulsive button sorter; I have taken to keeping a tray on my lap and sewing away on my buttons while my family wonders if I'm really tracking the movie that we are watching together.  Hey, leave me alone.  I'm multi-tasking here.  But I digress.  When I mentioned buttons, a young woman member of our group lamented how expensive buttons are and how she needed a few.  Well, I took her to my tray and she went home with about four cards of buttons for her future projects for her little daughter's homemade wardrobe.  She encouraged me to write this post and reminisce about how people used to make their own clothing and darn and mend.

I'm having trouble letting go of my buttons.  When I saw them go last night I experienced a little pang, but it was nice to know these buttons will be used.  I've started to sell my buttons online, so I'll post a few of my links here.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130421685336&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_941

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130421399334&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_941

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130421679239&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_941

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130421748401&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_941

Literary Landmarks of Philadelphia

I've been selling very well on EBay.  I haven't made a lot of money, but getting something for my clutter is a good feeling.  I like that some of my things are making their way to homes where people are grateful to get my stuff at a good price and use it.  I've added the link to a book that I paid quite a bit for about twenty years ago.  I thought since it was the first in a run of some 1000 printed copies that it would be of some value.  It is Literary Landmarks of Philadelphia and was printed in 1939.  Here is part of my description on EBay for this item:

Joseph Jackson is the author of this fairly rare volume which is unique as it is volume number 1 of a limited edition run of only 1,050 extant copies.  It is in good condition. There are some rubs on boards, and some beginning signs of foxing on the end pages, otherwise the text and illustrations of former Philadelphia literary landmarks are in very good condition.

From the introduction, "....Eighteenth Century Philadelphia was Eighteenth Century London in miniature, it might be said; and it drew the writers of books and the painters of portraits, as well as engravers, from Europe, as well as from other parts of America, all of them providing legends and anecdotes, which are still recounted."

Chapters are devoted to the following book people:

Walt Whitman

Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale-author of "Mary's Lamb"

John Adams

Amos Bronson Alcott

Edgar Allen Poe

Benjamin Franklin

Thomas Paine

William Penn

John Penn

Dr. Joseph Priestley-discoverer of oxygen and carbon monoxide

Noah Webster

George Washington

And many more...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130420676186&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_938