Buttons in Boxes and Baskets

 

 

Well, let's just say that when a button collection gets so big that buying two new storage boxes isn't enough, well then, that is a big button collection.  Guess how I know.

A couple of weeks ago, while thrifting in the Sheboygan, WI, area, I picked up two new tins for my overflowing collection.

Here's the state of things before reorganizing - tins and baskets too full to close the lids, a wooden tray too full to hold all the buttons it has been charged with.  My two new tins are on the right, as is a baggie of new buttons to be added in.

My buttons are sorted by color.  Similar colors are stashed in the same container.  For each color, there is one zip baggie for singles and one for multiples.  This is really helpful when I'm searching for replacement buttons for the vintage clothing repair part of my biz.  Multiples are strung together on thread. 

You can see how that sorting happened in a previous blog post.  I was laid up with a broken foot, and playing with all the colors and designs brought some joy into an otherwise dreary, sedentary couple of months.  You can see quite a few other button stories at the button label on this blog.

And here's the state of things after the reorganization.  The boxes and baskets close now, but the tray is still overfull.  So one more container is on my wish list for the next thrifting event or estate sale. 

A sidelight is that one of the tins I bought has a story!  I almost didn't buy the box as it's kind of scuffed and not very bright and cheerful.  But in the end, my need for storage won out.

I was showing it to my friend Debbie, who decided to look up the name Maillards that appears in the sketch on the lid.  Turns out, this is a collectible box (well, especially if it was in better shape).  The Maillard company was started in the US by a Parisian chocolatier who then expanded his shops by opening restaurants in New York and Chicago.  This was in the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s.  The restaurants were done in by the Depression, but the chocolates business continued until the 1960s.  And my box is labeled "2 lb. net".  Yum!  Thanks, Debbie!

I love my buttons!!!