Buttons!

There you are!  Please come visit with me for a while. As you can guess, I have once again been pondering.  Sometimes I like to do that.  Today I am thinking about buttons.  I know, quite a mundane topic and not one to pique your interest!

Think about this.  Have you noticed that men's shirts and coats button differently from women's?  Look at your blouse.  Notice how all the buttons on your blouse are lined up on the left side of the blouse.  The buttonholes are on the right.  Now look at a man's shirt or coat.  Notice how all the buttons are lined up on the right side of the shirt or coat.  Why is that?  Have you ever given much thought to that peculiar arrangement?  Well, I have.  This is what my research through Google revealed:

"The reason is historical, says Melanie M. Moore, founder of a women's blouse brand Elizabeth & Clarke.  When buttons were invented in the 13th century they were, like the latest technology, and like most new technology, they were very expensive.  Wealthy women back then did not dress themselves--their lady's maid did.  Since most people were right-handed, this made it easier for someone standing across from you to button your dress".  So....while the styles have evolved, this one tradition has not!

Another theory is that it had not so much to do with making the servants time spent buttoning the ladies into their fancy garments as it eventually became a "trend-setter".  The buttons being on the left indicated one's social standing among the elite?  Fancy that!

So, now you know......the next time you button or unbutton your blouse, remember that the placement of your buttons as compared to those of your husband's or any male, distinguish you as a more genteel lady of high social standing!

Quite a few years back I began the habit of saving buttons. It all started with having to discard a well-worn shirt that belonged to my husband.  Remembering the times when he would ask me to sew on a lost, never to be retrieved button, I began to snip those from the discarded ones. Over the years my supply increased from white buttons to colored buttons.  I began to have assorted sizes in every color.  Each time I discarded a shirt or blouse I saved the buttons! I also accumulated some from purchased blouses and shirts.  My button box became filled with my treasures of buttons.

One day as I was going through my button box, I decided to arrange them according to size and color.  In retrospect I cannot imagine my spending an entire day arranging buttons. I, the person who hates to organize anything at all, organized my buttons!  

I now have a plastic box labeled "Button Box".  Inside that box are small plastic zip-lock bags of hundreds of buttons that are all neatly bundled into categories by size and color!  Imagine that!  Do I ever use them?  No!  I do, however, have the security of knowing they are there should the need arise!

Oh, the pondering of it all...........................................................................

See you next time.......................Brenda