Sew Buttons

Last night Romeo popped the antique button to his coat. So this morning I fished another button out of the crazy jar of colorful buttons that I was given 35 years ago by a college friend who had been making jewelry out of them. She was moving and getting rid of a pile of stuff all of which I still have. And since I never throw anything away I still have her old glass Hain's mayonnaise jar of antique buttons. The first button I chose was too big and I realized it after I sewed it on. So I snipped the threads and found a smaller button.

For some reason my whole body relaxes when I sew. I start remembering how much I loved sewing as a kid. I made a dress from an old pair coveralls by opening the leg seams and attaching a triangle of fabric in the front and back. I also made a shoulder-bag from a pair of  jean shorts by sealing the leg holes and attaching a shoulder strap. So 1960!! I loved the charged electricity and magic emanating from anything I made myself. I guess I have never stopped chasing that feeling.

I loved using the sewing machine in Junior high. We had a room full of sewing machines and adjoining it was a room full of ovens. The course was called HOME ECONOMICS. I remember I showed the class how to make apple pie! 

Using the sewing machine was like driving but safer and less frightening. Both of my brothers were excellent at sewing. My older step brother lived on a commune in Ithaca NY and made his own leather jacket by sewing it on heavy duty machines made for leather. My younger half brother made green felt pants as part of a dinosaur costume when he was in grade school with help from Jean our Nanny!

I'm thinking about starting a quilt one square at a time using all of the old fabric we have. My friend Francine makes embroidered designs on old denim for an eventual quilt. She lives on my street at the Massachusetts end and she was born in Canada. When she fell in love with Jeff and moved here she learned English by watching MASH. She is very smart and was a librarian. She loves to read history and politics. She has chickens and a garden and does all her own canning. She's the epitome of home economics, running a farm!