My family thinks that just because I quilt that I'm suppose collect buttons. So every garage sale, flea market or even from their old shirts and sweater that they find/get they feel the need to give to me? I have spaghetti jars filled with buttons that I have no idea what to do with.. If I have space to store them, Id rather use that space for fabric.. So what gives?

(btw- I will never sew a button back on a shirt.. goes in the laundry to never be seen again)

Here ya to..... make these..... http://factorydirectcraft.com/factor...g/tag/buttons/ give them for Christmas gifts. tell them that it was SO obvious to you that they all wanted something made out of all the buttons they find and donate to the cause! tell them that now that they all have something made they can stop buying and sending them your way!

I LOVE buttons and don't know why. If I see buttons I have to buy them. I have jars and hate to use them up. All I knowis that I love them.

While I like the wreath idea that JustWannaQ has given ... if you have no interest in those buttons, don't do that or heaven forbid, they will gift you with more!

Was there a time when you were looking for buttons as embellishment for a quilt? Maybe that started it?

To stop the nonsense ... my suggestion isn't so lovingly-kind as JWQs ... Put all the buttons into a bowl. Stir them up. Fill up jars with them. And give a jar to each of those who have given to you.

Think they may get the hint? :)

awww lucky you...wish my fam would do that for me...i love buttons...i`ve made so many things with them...flowers...cards....put them on wall quilts....etc

If I have a shirt that needs a button, it goes to the
B of the C! (back of the closet) LOL

Send friends and family a note or have a discussion over coffee, etc. asking for no more buttons. Then send them to all the people here who love buttons (I am not one of those either - smile). Sometimes if people even think you are wanting to collect something they overload your hobby and it becomes a burden. Unburden yourself!

ooooooh I like that idea.. my lil one can make them.. Easy peasy handmade gift!!! LOVE IT!!!

but then again would that be sending the wrong message?? Id hate for them to give me MORE buttons.. lol..

Another button lover here! I have a collection - used to use them on decorated denim vests, shirts. Now I use them on Crazy Quilts. I even glued some to a mirror - had an old oval mirrior that got a small crack in it so I sorted out a bunch of white buttons - all sizes, shapes, and glued them on in a pleasing arrangement to over the crack, painted the small metal rim gold. Looks pretty good - kinda shabby chic looking but I still like it!

[quote=huntannette]awww lucky you...wish my fam would do that for me...i love buttons...i`ve made so many things with them...flowers...cards....put them on wall
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One of my daughters loves buttons. No one can understand why. When she visits, she just quivvers when I unload==sorry, when I gift her with some more of my buttons I've put away, hoping never to see again. I'll admit I did have some strange ones from sewing classes with out of town instructors. Some made from bone, some bone over 3 inches wide, some came from other towns, one set came from the sexual organs of a whale!!! Others were wood, plastic and a few from my Mom were Bakelite, some shaped like flowers or human faces, and some were who knows what.
DD wanted them all, no one else would even look at them. Whatever makes her happy.

I guess if I came to your house and saw several jars with bottons, I would jump to the conclusion that you love and collect buttons. That's probably happened with the relatives, and if you don't set them straight they will continue to think that they are making you very happy by bringing you more buttons. Actually that's not such a bad thing, is it? Costs them little, shows that they care about you, and the jars of buttons must make a pretty display.

I think you are very lucky that your family and friends think enough of you to take the time to save and give them to you. Put them in old jars and use them for eye candy.

My sister collected salt and pepper shakers for years and everyone knew it. She was collecting specific ones but we didn't know the difference. We were just happy that we knew what to get her for holidays and suveniers from travel. After about 15 years of getting s&p shakers she didn't want she finally started telling people-no more, please.

She told me that she had only started collected them because she saw a couple really cute, old ones at her grandmother-in-laws house and she gave them to her. It really wasn't supposed to be the start of a great collection.

So tell all your button suppliers that you appreciate them thinking of you but you don't really do anything with buttons. Just be honest and up front. They may be embarrassed that they just assumed or they may be sad they no longer have a simple gift to give you.

i love buttons too,don't know why, but i have tons and tons of them. When i was little i use to play with my mothers, i sorted them and strung them for her lol. My fascination is still here.

Here's a few ideas, of course my buttons are mostly old ones except for figural which I will use as tiny garden additions...see old scrap block. I can't find my finished blocks but picking out buttons for them is fun! Do not use the hard plastic ones on something you're going to put in the W&D. I started off putting big buttons on corners where it wasn't matched up square. I recently made a Sunbonnet girl redwork w/old red buttons (all different) but squares were near perfect but gave a nice look to it. Younger girls like to make bracelets on elastic thread.

I love buttons too. Maybe because I played with my aunt's coffee can full of buttons when I was little? I've got those and couple of other collections people have given me and I've been known to pick a few up when antique shopping. I have never done a thing but look at them...lol

oh my goodness- to be so lucky!!! i had a secret sister a few years ago who found me cards of buttons through out the year- they were the GREATEST gifts! if you do not want to collect your buttons pass them on -- plenty of people would go crazy for your buttons!

when i was just a little girl i remember sitting on the floor with an old tin full of grandma's buttons- looking for the perfect one for the doll dress we were making- i LOVED playing in those buttons! and i still do- i actually have pop-corn tins of buttons! i love them and lucky lucky me- my youngest granddaughter can spend a long time sitting on the floor looking through a tin of buttons too- so i know the love is carrying on.
there are so many different buttons- different materials-
i have walked into antique shops and bought canning jars of buttons- small tins full- and i save them off any clothing that is being re-cycled or disposed of.

Oh I love buttons!
I saw some button heart pictures and realised I could make it myself for a fraction of the cost. Also buttons are fantastic to occupy kids on a wet day as they are really easy to string together as jewellery and hanging heart decorations!

I received & occasionally wear a bracelet, made like the
Christmas wreath with buttons. It is on an elastic band for
easy off & on.

I love buttons too! They are fun additions to small quilts and wall hangings, make cute jewelry, and just plain fun to play in! :)

If you really don't want some buttons, take them to a homeless shelter or some outlet with some thread and needles. There are those who really NEED them for the original purpose. I send along some nail clippers to use to cut thread so even kids can mend their things.

luvtoquilt, send them to frarose.

I have to agree, I love buttons also, for the lady who has all the buttons try to find a sewing club or that sort of thing in your area and offer them the buttons! When my daughter was little(many years ago) I cut the backs off of cute buttons and made her all sorts of post earrings! Someone out there will love thebuttons! Have a lovely day!

WOW.. Such wonderful ideas everyone.. I really like the button jewelery for my lil one.. It does sound like a great rainy day project, plus she can give them away to her aunts and grandma..

Who wudda thunk it? .. Obviously not me.. lol..

Oh I wish I had that button stash! I would love to make the jewelry for DGDs and I love to use them on my wallhangings.

I found a lot at one nearby antique store and didn't get any that day and was sorry. A pint size jar was marked up from 8 to $18. And I buy new ones all the time too.

I don't know what it is either but I also save all the buttons that come with new clothes and I now have 2 jars of them, they look pretty and I hate to have to use any of them. I really like the old ones but they are getting expense when I do find them.

Kids love to play with buttons... If you don't like them, gather them all up and donate to a girl scout troop, Summer Fun program, or Vacation Bible School. I guarantee they will be able to use them for arts and crafts projects.

... and for future 'gifts' of unwanted buttons, there's always the garbage can.

thy also make very pretty barettes ...just glue them on a metal barette ....you can buy at craft stores...

I love buttons, and it is my Mama's fault. When I was a little girl she let me play with hers. I spent many happy hours matching and playing with them by stringing them up and unstringing. I have jars and bottles of them sitting around my home now.

I think I love them because my one Grandma used to collect them. No one knows what hppened to all of hers..........

I have a bag full of old buttons. Some were my Grandmothers, others were Great Grandmothers. I never thoss any clothing out until all button shave been cut off. I use them over on my husbands shirts/etc.

I worked in a garment factory & once when we ran out of work they had us count boxes full of mens shirt buttons. By the end of the day we were all batty from counting all those buttons.

Wow, so many lovers of buttons.. Well Tell ya what, the next batch of buttons i get I will PIF. Boy that gonna be one heavy bag.. :shock:

I love buttons. Love them love them. I can remember going over to my grandma's house and the first thing I would head for was her big round hassack (sp?) It opened up and there were all of these glorious buttons. It seemed like thousands and thousands. I would sort them into sizes and then when i was bored with that I would sort them into colors and then shapes. I will always have a fondness for buttons.

I love old vintage buttons especially. Have a wonderful old canning jar full here in my room.
When I was a little girl, would love going to visit Memere and she would put out buttons for us girls to sew onto paper. We had so much fun seeing what designs we could come up with. Oh the memories!!!

I loooove buttons. I am always on the lookout whenever we are out at estate and yard sales.

When my grandmother passed away, I was the lucky one to get her tins of buttons.

My granddaughter likes to go through my collection (not my grandmother's) and make jewelry with the buttons. And I do use them in some of my crafts.

My Gram always told me that a good sewing room had three things: A button box (usually an old Danish Cookie tin), giggling kids and a candy jar. I have so many buttons that I will never use them all. I have most of them categorized by size in little compartmentalized cases but I have one large cookie tin with a lot of my Gram's old buttons. I can't bring myself to ever use them. Some are my Grandfather's old navy buttons. I just love to sit and sift through them sometimes.

I love buttons. They're so darn cute! I haven't used buttons on a quilt yet, but I've added buttons to wall hangings, cards and scrapbook pages. They add a little extra "something".

I am another button lover...I have many jars of buttons, sorted by color...I use them sometimes on quilts, sometimes to make bracelets or necklaces, sew on clothes...as decoration...they are fun to "play with"...most of them I bought years ago at antique stores...so many are "collectable." Every few years we have a button show in town...when I go to that, I see just how crazy a person can go collecting buttons...and how expensive they can be if someone is a "real collector"...which I am not...just a for fun collector.

I've loved buttons in jars since I was a child. No doubt that times were simpler then, but I remember visiting my Aunt Stella - a wonderful woman. She sent me home with a jar of buttons and it was as if she had given me a sack of gold. The colors and textures fascinated me.
Jars of buttons are a little time capsule of a woman's family life. We all had much less clothing than we do now and when something finally wore out, the buttons were carefully removed and saved in a jar. The clothing was recycled into quilts, of course, or other garments, but those buttons remained.
When I got to estate sales I always buy them. Don't know what I'll do with them, but I buy them.

I love getting buttons - especially old ones and pearl ones.A friend makes jewellery from them so she loves them too.