charm strings...

My Momma started my love for buttons. She has old vintage canning jars (that have been tinted blue with sun, air and time) filled with every kind of button you can imagine. Although my button collection is tiny in comparison to hers, I do love buttons!

My Momma has told me the story of charm strings since I was a young girl. She loves antiques and simple little stories from the ears before her. Awhile ago I found a children's book called The Memory String by Eve Bunting. I had to buy it for her since she had shared the charm string story with me.

A charm string is a collection of buttons. A young girl would collect and trade buttons to add to their charm string. The craze for charm strings reached a point where girls borrowed pins to fasten their dresses before they could go home from a party because they traded their buttons right off their dresses. Like many fads that young people partake in, sacrifices had to be made for the impending completion of their charm strings, bringing their count to 99 buttons.

Upon receiving the hundredth button, a girl would meet the end of girlhood and the advent of matrimony. The hundredth button given to the girl was by the man she would marry. I'm sure I have 99 buttons that I've collected over the years. I should make my own charm string and tell my fiance to find the most special button he can for a gift on our wedding day--the hundredth button symbolizing my betrothal to him. Being an old fashioned girl in these frighteningly modern times, there is something so pure and sweet and simple to the sentimentality of the charm string and the hundredth button.

Recently, my Momma and Poppa went on a fishing excursion (how cute is it that they go fishing together? PRECIOUS!). One their way through a quaint, little town they found a little historical museum. Imagine my Momma's surprise when she came across a real charm string. Of course she was delighted after the many little stories she's heard and shared about them. She took some photos. I told her I would post them since she's not a blogger yet. In her story she always said the 100th button was the marriage button. As you can see here, it was really a thousand. Eek! I think I like 100 better. Here are the photos:

The Charm String

The Bio About the Charm String

Can You Find My Poppa Fishing?

Thanks for indulging me (and my Momma) in the retelling of charm string story!

Hugs & Squeezes,
Lindsay