This week's button story is about a very special and lovely American traditional women's folklore; the button string !
In Victorian times, young women in the USA collected buttons and arranged them in lengths known as "button strings", "charm strings", "friendship strings" or "memory strings". The string begins with a large button, called a "touch button", and grew as friends and relatives donated buttons. Being given a button was considered good luck, as was stringing it.
Often button strings helped memorialize important life events, such as weddings, births, holidays, and awards. Glass buttons were the most popular. The strings were often stored carefully wrapped in tissue paper in a beautiful box. For many, the goal was to string 999 buttons because the 1000th button would be brought to her by her true love. Most button strings that survived, however, do not contain 1000 buttons ........
The stringing tradition went out of fashion around 1900.
I also found a very beautiful modern version of a button string in the blog of madelinetosh:
Based on:
Keep Homestead Museum; Button Archive
Victorian Charm Strings by Diana Epstein and Millicent Safro
Charming Charm Strings by Scribbit
The Button Lover's Book (Creative Machine Arts Series) by Marilyn V. Green
