As a child I loved playing in my Mum's button box, sorting them out into sets,colours etc...my Mum was a keen knitter and anything that was past its best or grown out of and the wool could be re-used, had the buttons taken off and was then pulled back. I still have the button tin although I wouldn't have dared let DD play with it when she was small
Yesterday she was looking through it and its amazing what memories came back of garments that I could remember wearing when I was small. The textile department at DD's school has sent an appeal for scraps of material, thread and buttons, so I will probably let her take most of them to school.