Buttons

November 16 is National Button Day. Buttons have been around a long time. Although button-shaped objects appeared in the Indus Valley about 5,000 years ago, these were used for decorative purposes on clothing and not as fasteners. The earliest known functional buttons came from Germany in the 13th century.

Early buttons were made from natural materials. Today manufacturers usually use plastic or metal. The two most common types are the buttons with two or four holes to be sewn onto the garment with the thread showing or a shank button. The shank button has a hole through an attached shank on the back side of the button, causing it to stand above the cloth but allowing little of the thread to show.

At one time, women collected buttons for later use, since the clothing tended to wear out before the buttons did. Children often used these buttons as toys. A small child might sit for a good while stringing buttons on a heavy thread. A large button could also be strung to make an improvised spinning toy, sometimes called a "buzz saw.

In Uprooted by War, my third novel in the Appalachian Roots Series that's at the publisher's now, Hawk makes buttons from tree twigs for a coat the women make for Moses. Resources were scarce during the Civil War, and the slave had come to the mountains without a coat, so the family improvised to make him one. 

Although other types of fasteners have been developed, like snaps, hooks, zippers, etc., buttons have remained the most popular. However, there are groups, like the Old Order Amish, who don't use buttons because they can be considered decorative. Instead, they use pins. But chances are that you'll be buttoning up something today. Therefore, do so celebrating National Button Day.

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