Treasure

This was my grandmother's button bag. My mom has it now. When I was young, I thought of it as a treasure bag. I loved to look at all the buttons. I would dig my hand in deep and grab a handful, and let the buttons fall through my fingers, like gold. There were so many. All colors,shapes, and sizes; common and unusual. My grandmother saved all buttons. When an item of clothing was discarded from wearable use, she would cut the buttons off and put them in the bag. My mother did the same thing. When my mom made something for me, she would always look in the bag before she would buy new buttons. Now I do the same thing. Many things I make are unusual because of the buttons. I've kept buttons in tins or jars. Jars are nice. It's like a jar of candy sitting of the shelf. When I'm looking for buttons, I end up pouring the whole jar out, spilling some on the floor, trying to find the perfect button.
When looking for a button in the bag, the bag folds open, no pouring needed. It's easy to sort through and find what I need. It's time to make my own button bag.

What I need:

• fabric 18''x 38''
• 5 1/2'' round of cardboard
• 8 1/2'' rings
• ribbon - 1 1/2 yd.
  

• Fold fabric in half, right sides together. Sew two sides. Turn right side out.
• Find the center of the square, and mark a 5 1/2'' circle.
• Insert the cardboard between the layers of fabric, centering.
• Pin around the cardboard circle to keep in place.

• Using your zipper foot, sew around the cardboard circle. This creates the bottom of the bag.

• Turn the raw edges of the forth side of the bag to the inside and sew closed.

• Sew the rings on. Place a ring at the center of each side, at the edge. For corner rings, place them 2 1/2'' from the point, in from each corner.

• Press each corner point back.The corner ring in now at the pressed edge.
  

• Choose your ribbon, and thread through the rings and tie.
• Pile the buttons on the round and spilling over.
  
• Pull the ribbon up from each side, letting the buttons weight the bag.
  
• Finished!

A new bag, full of treasures.

So easy to plop open and search for the perfect button. Yet holding them in so they don't roll all over the floor. Maybe some day someone will remember this bag as grandma's button bag and think of it as a bag of treasure.