What to do if your great-great-grandmother left you a box of underwear buttons

LoyaltyOfDogs

Sergeant Major
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Aug 8, 2011
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Gettysburg area
I smiled to find this recently on the artists-crafters-vintage goods on-line marketplace Etsy. Made by an accomplished jewelry artist, it's beautifully done and I'm sure it would be quite a conversation piece. You know the saying, "when life gives you lemons..." I'm guessing the jeweler bought these specifically to use in her projects, but in case any readers of "The Ladies Tea" need some inspiration in making good use of an unusual family "heirloom," here's her finished creation.
 
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Something else I never would have thought about, i.e., what Civil War underwear buttons looked like, much less how they might be used to make jewelry! Thanks for pointing to that!

Roy B.
I'd never have thought of underwear buttons either, @A. Roy. And I'm assuming--someone knowledgeable please correct me if I'm wrong--that these were buttons for the one-piece undergarments called "union suits" that men wore. I'm guessing that ladies' undergarments didn't use buttons. Is that right?
 
I'd never have thought of underwear buttons either, @A. Roy. And I'm assuming--someone knowledgeable please correct me if I'm wrong--that these were buttons for the one-piece undergarments called "union suits" that men wore.

I imagine we have some underwear experts here at CWT, probably in the reenactors forum. I found an interesting drawing -- let me see if I can link to it:


Roy B.
 
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