A Button Box Quandry

The only option left was replacing the four buttons with new. And for that solution, I turned to my button box. Actually a large tin, it once held moon cakes – pastries particular to the Chinese new year celebration, which we’d received as a gift from “Ben,” our very sweet Dali guide when we visited China several years ago. I have great affection for this tin because it reminds me of that trip, which was our 30th anniversary gift to ourselves.My button box holds a joyful jumble removed from shirts destined for the rag bag to a collection of vintage beauties. I know people who separate their buttons by color and display them in old canning jars, but I like mine loose…the better to swirl my fingers through the layers, revealing a hidden gem I don’t remember ever seeing before! My button fixation goes backto when I was a girl and learning to sew. Threading a needle, tying off the end in a knot and sewing mismatched buttons to a piece of scrap fabric was a rainy day activity or to occupy myself on a summer day too hot to do anything but sit under a shade tree.

I’ve always enjoyed the quietude of hand sewing, even when not exactly by myself. I find hand stitchery the perfect road trip complement to PC’s listening to sports radio as he drives. And so it was this past Saturday, settled in the passenger seat, button box atop my lap, I selected replacements to the jacket’s top two buttons.
And here it is four days later, and I’m stuck choosing the third button. I know the final button will be the butterscotch-y yellow, but which of the three to sew as the third. Help!xxea