A quick little video for making a Dorset Flower button. I've also added an idea for adding extra colour - and how to create a "chain stitch" border. It's a nice touch that can be added to most Dorset designs.
This button is included in my book, Dorset Ring Buttons, available over on my website.
Stay hydrated everyone - seems the weather is going to get hot here in the UK again next week, and I know it is elsewhere too.
I'll be writing two blog posts this evening - one over on the One Button a Week blog as well as here - both slightly different...
Today's is a new video - with a little bit of an explanation of how I have made my button for this week, but more importantly, one of the methods I use to add a ring shank and backing to a button.
Ring buttons are supposed to be "sew-throughs" of course. However, if you are working a Dorset tree, or posy, there will be spaces, that can look odd - a beautiful landscape and then the wrong colour fabric showing through, kinda ruins it. And you know, I also hate it when I've made a lovely ring button and someone sews it on badly, ruining my work.
So, here's one solution.
At the end of the video there are some community contributions for the first week of the challenge - pop over to that blog for pictures and more info about that.
And another new video! It's been hot under the lights without air conditioning, I can tell you. :)
Here I am patiently waiting for the new book's arrival, it should have been here a few days ago so I am rather stressed as it is launching tomorrow on The Craft Store...
These things are sent to try us.
Other than that, it's been full on working samples and packing up the bundle we will be launching with. And being too hot.
No, I am not complaining really. It makes a lovely change instead of rain.
Take care, stay safe, and I hope you can tune into the Craft Store tomorrow morning.
I've been busy plodding along, sinuses still an issue but have at least started on some alternative therapies to lessen the issues, as you do! I am at least on the ENT waiting list, so hopefully it won't be too long. Of course, covid has increased waiting times hugely, and I haven't even heard about my foot yet.
Enough of that!
I have still been busy, even if I didn't want to be in front of a camera - taking lots of step by step photos for the next book. This is the first in a series we've planned for quite a while - each book with a different subject matter, but all "Making Buttons".
There will be some old favourites, some new ideas, and everything in between in this series - a way to get designs I've worked or discovered over the years out there, as well as updating the old DVDs we did (let's face it, who watches DVDs these days?).
This series will be aimed at everyone, while the 16th & 16th century buttons book (The Historical Button Maker Vol 2) that I am also working on is probably more specialist. That one too is moving along at a much better pace now too, so some times not being able to do the everyday things can be a bit of a blessing :)
So watch this space - hopefully everything will be back from the printers for the end of the month for the first - "Dorset Ring Buttons".
Hi Everyone! Back on track a bit. But only just! :)
I hope this week's video inspires you!
It is interesting, there are quite a few boring videos of specific techniques I'm keen to make, but they won't get the views. Which could be detrimental to my channel in the way that searches promote them. So I'm wondering if I should try to fit in two a week. Then I remember I sometimes struggle with one! And then I make mistakes that get through onto the final video!
How do people keep up?
So, this weekend we have two major jobs - list lots of exciting materials onto the website (yay!) and get photographing some step-by-steps for the book (yay!).
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
(PS. can you spot the error that I made in the intro to this video? Only some will...)
A very practical button for this week's video - this one is great for so many uses. So long as you use a washable fabric and thread, you can easily wash these buttons, making them great for linens. You can also adjust the size very easily by playing with different fabric sizes and stick sizes.
Today I just have to share with you design team member Anne Waller's blog. She has outlined how she created the stunning clock shown above, using our new Button Display Clock Kit (MDF version) and various other button kits from us.
It is stunning, and such a lot of effort to take the images as you go and write it all up, so do please, pop over to her blog and have a read.
These are NOT Dorset buttons. They are made in France for a start...
You know when you have a pet hate and it drives you a bit batty? Well, mine is the hastag #dorsetbutton.
It's a great hash tag when used on an actual Dorset button. And by that I do not mean where the button was made, but the technique.
Of course, we live in an age of hastags - and so for social media purposes, if we want anything found we actually need to use the hastag #dorsetbutton (or search terms) in order to pick up the audience who follow these things. I try to counteract this with the hastag #notadorsetbutton, but I suspect that like so much in an ever changing language, all ring buttons will come to be called a Dorset button in the future. And I'll just have to take a deep breath! ;)
But, in case you were wondering...
Any ring button is not a Dorset button.
Ring buttons on cards made in Germany or elsewhere are not Dorset buttons.
Any lacy thread button is not a Dorset button.
Every fabric button with some needlework is not a Dorset button.
Crocheted buttons are not Dorset buttons.
Cord, braid, etc buttons are not Dorset buttons.
and the list goes on.
The cottage industry that was known Buttony in the Dorset area of England did make other types of button very early in the history of the trade. However, it is at the very beginning, (mid 1600s). By the time that ring buttons are being made the trade is quite specific, as it the technique used.
In Dorset thread button making, the ring is covered first.
Then the spokes are laid.
Then, the decorative weaving, or stitching is worked to strengthen the centre area of the ring.
This creates a very distinctive design and edge. The image of the back of a Dorset button below shows how the lines of the of the spokes is over the ridge of the blanket stitch covering.
The pre-revival Dorset industry used linen thread. Not silk. Not braids or cords. In fact, it is very rare that a pre-revival Dorset button is coloured although there are a few exceptions, most notably the black Singleton buttons (although the whole black Singleton button is perhaps another discussion!). There are a few coloured thread buttons in existence and it may well be that they were dyed by the garment maker after purchasing the buttons.
These white on white buttons buttons could be washed at high temperatures. Apparently, the alloy used to make the rings was invented by the Case family to be rust free and was a secret "recipe".
And that is the reason the industry was devastated almost overnight when a machine for making linen buttons cheaply went on display at the Great Exhibition. Within 9 years the Dorset industry collapsed.
At around 1900, Lady Lees attempted to revive the industry, and at this point you begin to see slight variations, particularly regarding the use of colour, and it appears, a change of thread if required. This button card clearly illustrates what she was offering, the thread looks shiny and there are colours and even beads. The thread could be mercerised cotton, silk, or "artificial silk" - first invented in 1855 and often used in dress trimmings. However, if you look closely at this card, you will still see the tell-tale signs of covering the button first, and then working the spokes. Also, every one of these buttons is still made over a very fine ring, unlike other fancy thread buttons of the era.
Photo: The Textile Society
This is the back of a Zwirnknopfe button - made in Germany, Austria, and northern Europe. I don't know how long their history is exactly, but they certainly seem to have been a viable alternative to machine linen buttons in the late 19th century (perhaps why Lady Lees attempted the revival). This technique often uses a flatter ring and works the spokes first - then covers any space in the ring. You can see the ridge is over the spokes, creating a solid line at the back. There is even a little machine that works the spokes used in Austria - the video below shows the machine. This results in quite a different look to the Dorset technique. And, if on a fancy printed card, the chances are the buttons have not been worked using the Dorset technique, as the Dorset cottage makers weren't using printed cards.
Modern Dorset buttons use all sorts of combinations of stitches and colours. But they still use the same basic technique, covering the ring first.
There is no evidence that other types of needlework button, those worked over wooden moulds or with embroidery were ever made within the industry. Instead, button cards exist of passementiers or button makers working these fancy designs in many colours.
Likewise, there is no evidence that any crocheted button was made as part of the industry.
