Secondhand Sleuth

Some of my favorite items to collect at secondhand shops are buttons. When I look back, I have been collecting them for decades. I love to sort them and display them, even if I don’t always find a “use” or way to wear them. The button cards featured above are from a trip to Brooklyn Flea with Jen in 2012.

One of my oldest collections was given to me by Aunt Pam on a visit at least 20 years ago. It includes lots of pearl buttons which I love. I remember sorting through a larger collection to pick them out and I keep them in a blue glass jar on my dresser. I made a necklace by stringing one of them on memory wire. I have tried this with other buttons but it’s challenging to keep them from drooping. In this case I just went with it.

Buttons from Aunt Pam

Necklace with antique metal button

Jim and I visited a friend in Los Angeles in 2006 and found a whole shop full of antique buttons near our hotel, I think on Third St. I found some I adored but thought they were too expensive, and then Jim snuck back and bought them for me anyway. They are some of my favorites and I made the pink flowered buttons into another necklace. I will take a photo and make an update soon.

These large Bakelite buttons are from a store called Lazy Dog Antiques on Belmont in Chicago that we visited in 2009. According to my Flickr album I paid $2 each.

Going through my photos, I found one of a store button display from 2011. I love the idea and the stamped images. If I recall, this is from the Economy Shop in Oak Park and hangs outside the sewing room. That is a great locations for craft project materials. I took this with an older phone so the quality is poor.

I once bought a necklace made of many small blue and green buttons near there on the street in Oak Park. I don’t think it was a craft fair—I seem to recall a young woman selling them near the farmers market. I don’t know if the buttons are vintage but it is very cute. Another one I need to photograph and add later.

For a recent Christmas I bought a lot of vintage black buttons for Jim, so he could select some to replace the missing buttons on his leather coat. Now I think a few may have fallen off again, so I hope I can find the stash and replace the replacements.

Update July 23, 2025

I found the earrings I made from two of the buttons Jim bought me in Los Angeles 19 years ago. Originally there were three that I had strung on a necklace, but I stepped on it and crushed one. The glass is delicate. I like the earrings better because they sit upright on the headpins.

Drop earrings with pink glass flower buttons, small green and clear beads, and copper findings

Back of drop earrings showing the head pins