Buttons

I don't know when I learned to sew a button.  I was rather young when my mom taught me to do it. I recall every step just as she showed me -- the doubling of the thread, the multiple knots so that the thread won't slip through the clothing, the choice of needle, the lick of the thread to slip it through the eye.  I especially enjoyed the loop knot you create at the end to hold the button in place before snipping the thread with sewing scissors.

To sew a button is a simple act.  Finding the time to do it? Not so simple.

I have a reserve of buttons in my sewing kit and assembled in various drawers.  Many of them are still in tiny ziplock pouches that once attached them to their original article of clothing.  These were the extra buttons of clothing past.  I still locate many of them from clothes I have long since lost or discarded.

However, the more important buttons are the ones that await reattachment.  Some of them wait for a long time. For months, and even since last winter, my favorite black coat has been missing a key button right at the bottom.  Thankfully, I saved it in a drawer, and after many days, I sewed it back in place, along with another button that had ripped from the pocket. Tomorrow, I will have a whole coat to wear again.

What I learned is that I should sew buttons more often.  Each step in the process slowed me down and calmed my mind.  The careful focus on thread and needle allowed me the chance for meditation and precision. I don't really like crafts, but tonight, I was very attracted to the simplicity of sewing a button. It's rather Zen, really.  Just sewing one button and then the next, dipping the thread up and down, sticking the need in and then out.

I may have found a new hobby.  Maybe my buttons won't be awaiting use much longer.