Thursday 14 May 2009

Button Tins and The Bayeux Tapestry


When I was growing up most homes possessed a "button tin" in which spare buttons, or buttons cut off garments were stored. In the last week I have been given two such tins, no longer required by their owners. The tins were passed on to me to see if they contained any useful buttons. In the picture is a very old "Quality Street" sweet tin and "Blue Bird" toffee tin, both probably over 50 yrs old. The other tin is my own button tin, its age is about 18 yrs ago. On the front is a picture of a section of the Bayeux Tapestry which is housed in France and tells the story of William the Conqueror's invasion of England through pictorial panels. Although it isn't tapestry at all! It is embroidery, using coloured wool, on 8 long strips of bleached linen which have been stitched together to form a continuous panel about 20 inches high and 230 feet long. It was probably made in the 11th century. There is a Victorian replica of the tapestry housed in Reading, England.
I found this amazing animation of the story of the "Battle of Hastings" using the Bayeux Tapestry on you-tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDaB-NNyM8o
Well I'm off to see my sister Jane this weekend and have a "Tat-Chat" and if by then she hasn't told you what she is designing I'll "spill the beans" when I get back!!!

8 comments:

  1. Oh, spill the beans, will you?!?!? We'll have to see about THAT!!!

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  2. I was going to mention another food but I've been very good in this so far so I'll just continue lurking.

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  3. Hi Sally, I'm all ears..... What did you say Jane is making????? LOL!!

    Love the tins. Very nice! Did you find some useful buttons?

    I have made quite a few of Jane's MOP Button Brooches and I asked my friend if she had any MOP buttons in her button tin. She had no clue what I was talking about. I thought everyone had a tin full of old buttons. She asked her MIL about it and she had a baggie of buttons instead of a tin of buttons. I said that will do. LOL!

    I'll go watch the video on the Battle of Hastings.

    Have fun with Jane this weeked!

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  4. I just got done watching the Battle of Hastings on Youtube. I love that kind of animation. It reminds me of how Monty Python does some of their skits. The sound effects are great and it even had some of my favorite music, from the Gladiator movie with my favorite actor, Russell Crowe. Thanks for the link!!

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  5. Jane wouldn't be too pleased if I "let the cat out of the bag" but I've already hinted somewhere, its just knowing where?!!! Tomorrow will soon be here though!
    Sadly I did not find many useful buttons, my tin had the best! But there were some unsual looking buttons which I might photo.
    Glad you liked the Battle of Hastings, I kept watching it especially the bit that is actually on my tin, seeing the boats sail was fun!
    Hope you are feeling much better. X

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  6. Oh I love tins and I collected quite a handful. Lately I stopped. Well, kind of... And I suspect my hubby has been making some 'disappear' over time. I don't store anything in them, just like to admire them.

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  8. Those tins are lovely. Difficult these days to find the old ones in good shape.
    Fox : )

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