I have a lot of buttons. They will never be used up in my lifetime – a fact that became all too obvious when I inherited my late mother’s button box (she failed to use up hers, too), which nearly doubled my own collection. Some are antiques, some are just pretty and others asked me to group them together somehow (for example, the ‘button bowl’) for a massed effect. Many of them were used as centres for fabric flowers, thereby using up two classes of leftovers..Pin-wheels with a central button make lovely flowers and also use up small scraps of fabric. Pin-wheels are also useful for decorating shopping bags or other items. Using pairs of large identical pinwheels and bought clasps, I was able to make four pretty coin purses. Here they are, in no particular order or hierarchy:
