Is it a crime to actually use vintage notions?

Last weekend I went to a small vintage sale, it had all sorts of lovely things and amongst them I was very happy to find some sewing treasures

Vintage sleeve board, buttons and 5ft folding ruler

I particularly love the sleeve board because, unlike my modern one, it is very heavy and absolutely rock solid.


Underside of sleeve board

Somebody has re-covered it very nicely so it is both decorative and extremely useful.

But on to the main subject of this post. The vintage buttons.

They are French and the woman who sold them told me that they dated back to late 19th or early 20th century. As she handed them to me she asked

"Where will you display them, are you going to frame them?"

My answer was "I'm going to use them".

She looked startled and anxious. "What do you mean? What are you going to use them for? You're not going to take them from their cards are you?"

"I plan to sew them on to a dress that I am going to make and, yes, that will mean taking them from the cards."

I suspected that if she hadn't already taken my money, and handed them over, she would have refused to sell them to me. Now I do understand her feeling that lovely vintage items should be treasured but I don't believe that this sentiment should preclude actually using them. I promised her that I would only put them on something appropriate - I am thinking of a 1940's style dress (and I do have an original pattern that would be perfect - but more about that at a later date). My feeling is that these buttons were made to be used and loved and enjoyed and that sewing them to a dress is a happy thing for them.


There's a woman out there committing crimes against buttons


What do you think? Should vintage things be preserved intact and only used for display? If I callously take my lovely buttons from their cards will the vintage police swoop in on me? Or is it ok to actually sew with them? I’d love to know what you think .....