Button back ideas - finishing Dorset, thread & handmade buttons / Facebo...

Well, at the beginning of the month I did a little Facebook live over in our group. It nearly didn't happen, but I got there in the end. 

I decided that I would upload the recording to YouTube - after all, the info in it is as helpful to everyone else (I hope) as it was to those who were able to tune in. 

Of course, these ideas are not the only ones - I seemed to have forgotten quite a few that I use. But hopefully, this will give you some ideas for finishing your buttons.

Ivy Covered Log Studio Button - walkthrough

Hi everyone! It has been a little while since I updated this blog. Of course I am updating the One Button a Week blog every week (do pop over and have a look!), so I am not neglecting things really, I just haven't got that much to say. I'm sure you don't want to read me just writing for the sake of it!

I decided to try a slightly different take on things for this video. Goodness, that wasn't a good idea! Usually, I know what I am filming, do it in quite an organised way, and Mark is able to edit it based a lot of my silences - or simply by me turning of the camera for anything repetitive. Well, not this one. I did not know how this was going to turn out - or what I was filming. So the editing took forever - I had to do it as Mark couldn't remotely figure it out, and I had to narrate afterwards and it just took ages. Not really cost effective by way of time, haha. I hope that you enjoy it though.

Speaking of time, can you believe it is already nearly a month since we were last on Create & Craft? Well, we are back this coming Tuesday (the 26th) and the show will feature Teneriffe Lace. Which hasn't been on your screens for at least a year. I'm looking forward to it and have been making some lace (spoiler alert, there will at least one lace themed video next week to add to the playlist).

Take care of yourselves, thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend - or week, depending on when you are reading this.

Let's talk about button moulds! PLUS One Button A Week- week 2 - winter ...

Button moulds - what are they, and what can I use?

This topic came up this week over on our Facebook group, and I thought this would be a good thing to do as an informational video - sometimes seeing something is better than just reading about it.

Of course, we have loads of button moulds over on our website, but I know that international shipping does mean that some may not always be able to get what they want. 

But there are so many different things that can be used as a button mould, so I hope that this gives you a bit of an idea.

At the end of the video is more wonderful community contributions for the One Button a Week Challenge - week 2 with the prompt "winter". 

Do pop over to the blog for the challenge for the images and some other snippets about the challenge!

https://www.onebuttonaweek.co.uk/

This weekend, it is all about winding wire and packing kits -

Yes, we are getting back into it and have a show over on The Craft Store on the 29th of January! We will be bringing ganutell kits - along with a new kit based on the Cloisterwork techniques - all sparkly and shiny wires and pretty flowers. 

For those of you who follow these things, last week was quite the week. The Craft Store took over Create & Craft (the tv shopping company where we started out). So, who knows, we may end up with some shows over there at some time!

Stay safe and well everyone!

Button Autopsy - Victorian's Secret / Examining an antique silk covered ...

And now for something completely different!

a little mid-week short

Enjoy!

Button Autopsy : The crochet ball

 

No video this week as we've been so busy packing after the shows last Friday, prepping for my Costume Skills Institute tomorrow, and actually writing some more of the book. I just didn't have time to do any filming. Well, filming isn't the hard part, it's the editing afterwards.

So, instead I thought I'd do another in my occasional series, Button Autopsy.

The crochet ball. So many of us who collect buttons have these. Lots of them. Some really discoloured too. Usually, like the ones here, they are white, sometimes black, and more rarely other colours.

Primrose Peacock, in her 1978 booklet "Discovering Old Buttons" has a small paragraph about crochet buttons -

"Machine and hand-worked crochet has been used as a button covering in many places, notably Ireland and France. The core may be either a wood mould or a soft substance such as kapok or wool, or in America cardboard. Hard ball-shaped buttons with loop shanks known as French knobs were popular with Edwardian Parisian prostitutes, which may account for their disfavour elsewhere!"

Nancy Nehring (50 Heritage Buttons to Make) adds a little more information - 

"Early this century, Parisian prostitutes hung pearl [meaning crocheted balls] buttons from their clothing so that the movement attracted attention as they walked. No respectable Parisian woman would have used them on her clothing!"

Recently, I saw this image on the internet 

Auteuil Racecourse, 1911

Those two women in the wonderful matching embroidered gowns - look closely, they are edged in little white balls! Crocheted? That's logical - pearl buttons or those with wood moulds would, I think pull down that fine fabric too much with the weight. Kapok filling would give far less stress.

OK, so not to speak ill of the dead... are we saying they are matching prostitutes?

hmmm. I guess I will have to see what else I can find about the crochet ball button in Paris!

So, on to the ones I've looked at.

They are approximately 13mm, so quite small. They average 6 rows of crochet. They are hard, but the filling will "give" if pressed hard enough.

When unravelling the crochet, you can see that the mould looks very smooth, and light coloured. The silk is a 'Z' twist, 3 ply for those who are interested in these things.

Now, this might be artificial silk. Cross, Bevan and Beadle patented their artificial silk in 1894 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon), but I'm not quite sure how to successfully test this at the moment.

Removing all of the stitching revealed the mould -

Very smooth, fibre, well shaped and with a hole - but only at one end. The hole does not go all of the way through (about 7mm).

The fibre is actually rolled to create the shape, probably while the fibre was wet, although starch or something similar may have been used. Think of a cotton ball, and how you can unroll it. This is obviously much denser, but the principle is the same.

The best thing about this type of mould is that it can be gently washed. It often becomes harder and more dense I've found with some of my experiments using cotton (haven't tried kapok), as it shrinks a little. In fact, it is possible that these were made and perhaps plunged into boiling water. 

Today of course, we can use crocheted ball button without risk being classified, and a great substitution for this mould is those little felted wool balls you can get. 

Stay safe everyone!

Death's Head buttons and thread comparisons part 1

 

This post is really a bit of a repeat of a blog post I made way over 10 years ago, comparing threads when working a straightforward death's head wrap.

Of course, back then, the image was interesting, but probably not that helpful - I can't even identify all the threads! But now, with phone cameras being so good, I thought I would revisit this.

All of these buttons have been worked over our No 117 turned wood mould (20mm).

Starting with Presencia Finca Cotton Perle, in sizes 12 and 8.

Size 8 perle is my teaching go to. It is easy to see the thread placement, covers well, and still retains a nice sheen. When I want something finer, I go for the size 12. I think it is good to start with a thread that isn't going to break the bank, or be scary to work with, especially when teaching and designing. These both do this job really well. It also has the benefit of being on a ball, so no guessing how much thread you'll need - very helpful in a workshop situation!

DMC Stranded Cotton Embroidery thread

We place stranded embroidery thread into a few of our kits. The button on the left was worked with a single strand, and you can see how a finish more like a floss silk can be achieved - so it is perfect when wanting to show the patterns more clearly. The button on the right uses all 6 strands at the same time - however, in order to achieve the shiny look, I did separate all strands then lay them back together first. This removes the twist and gives a more flossy look to the thread. 

Again, this is a really affordable way to start practising more complex designs - the biggest issue is cutting the length and separating the strands, but at least you can add more thread if you've cut too little.

Next up, 

a DeVere 36 twist filament silk, 

Marathon Rayon machine embroidery thread and 

Rajmahal Art Silk

In all of these, the thread is so fine you can just see the mould beneath. In actual fact, this is much more obvious on the photo than in real life. However, for darker threads, I would normally colour the mould to stop the contrast - a black sharpie works a treat, and black coloured button moulds are known. But that wouldn't have been the best comparison for you.

All are good threads for more complex woven designs, where the spaces become invisible as well. The Marathon was probably the trickiest, and I did wax the mould on this one. I like the way the cross is nicely pronounced on the Rajmahal button.

Au Ver s Soie:

Soie d'Alger Spun Silk

and D'Aubusson fine tapestry wool

The Soie D'Alger is a spun silk, and I have used a single strand (it is divisible as with DMC cotton). It has a nice soft sheen and lovely to work with. Being softer than the tighter twists of the previous image, it fills the spaces better. It is a nice affordable silk choice I think, but, as with all spun silks, the sheen is a little less than with filament.

The wool is one of my favourite threads actually. It is the perfect weight for thread buttons. I know, I've chosen a rather darker colour, so perhaps hard to see, but it really is lovely to work with for a very different look.

Au Ver a Soie :

Soie Gobelins

Soie Perlee

Soie Ovale

Three of my favourite threads for wrapped buttons. They are all filament (or reeled) silk.

Gobelins is perfect for fancy woven and interwoven designs, it is super fine and you need good lighting! A button made with this does take time, but usually is worth it.

The perlee is lovely for tidy silk buttons. Like a cotton perle, there is a twist, which makes it good for weaving and for grappe techniques. It's very similar to historical weight silk twists, and works well for multi colour wraps.

The ovale -  this flat silk is just perfect for a glossy death's head. All of the single colour wraps work really well with this, as you can see, the cross really stands out beautifully yet the individual wraps have melded to appear as though one. You need to keep if flat as you work for best effect, so bear that in mind.

And before anyone says - yes, I know it would have been good to get the colours all the same. But, that's not actually possible for some of the threads, and I did think it best to not raid stock just for this post! I've enough threads to get the examples done. :)

There are still a few to come, so watch this space!

Stay safe and well all of you.

Button Autopsy - Recyle, reuse

 

Many people will look at a box of fabric buttons and pick out any of the pretty ones - the fancy buttons, the ones that look like silk, or are crocheted. To a lot of people, the plain fabric buttons can really seem dirty or worn or just too boring to consider. But sometimes, they can hold a secret.

Any buttons that have a gathered back show that they have had the fabric put over the button mould by hand. These buttons, even when the fabric is beyond saving, are worth a second look.

By carefully cutting away the gathered stitching on the back of the button, you can remove the covering. Some will need to be cut away (but proceed with caution, as I'll explain further along).

Buttons with a wooden mould have a good chance of being professionally made - perhaps to match a garment. However, this isn't always the case, as you did used to be able to purchase button moulds at a haberdashery. But even these can be a bit of a surprise, and they can always teach you more about construction techniques.

The little pink buttons have a satin covering. Its a medium weight fabric, so the covering has been placed right on the wooden mould. This mould is only about 9mm across. The stitching to create the covering was not in a matching thread - perhaps an indication of being homemade?

The beige button is perhaps older. The silk has been used as a double layer adding a bit of extra stability. The top layer of fabric had completely shattered. Again, a turned wooden domed mould inside, but this time, the sewing thread is a perfect match.

This one was a nice surprise. The top layer was black black silk. Not too fine, so only required the single fabric layer. 

Beneath the black, a faded, a shattered fine pale lavender - over a second layer that has a much stronger purple tone to it. 

The purple stitching was a perfect match to the fabric. The black stitching was too, but the thread itself a little thicker than that used on the purple. They are two distinct levels, indicating that the button was re-used and recovered after the initial sun damage to the lavender had happened. 

Then there is the covered-covered button. The button mould is actually a fabric button that has been made using a button machine or press - so there is a metal back and/or front. The large buttons in the image at the top of the page are this type - a velvet/plush covering over a damaged cloth button with metal moulds. The damage to the original covering is quite obvious when the velvet was removed.

This is another - the inside button is a three-part with a thread back, and the woven front is probably a mohair / silk mix. This could be a very old button, and I'll be looking at it more closely in the future to see what I can discover.

These plain blue buttons have a textured orange fabric button underneath. The button is a two part with a pad back, and as you can see from the picture, quite soiled. With such a drastic change in colour I suspect they were removed from the original item and used on something quite different.

This already hard working, utility, machine made linen button has been covered in an equally hard wearing cloth. A cotton twill in a dark khaki colour, I wonder if it was made to replace a missing button on a kit bag or similar? Either way, this too is showing signs of wear along the edges. I like this button. 

Then there are the surprises. Such as this little faded silk button - with a bone disc at the centre. I assume made to be a covered button right from the start, as there is no central hole. This silk is quite a pretty  light peacock blue on the underside.

Or this - the fabric covering was actually quite thick, so the button did look a bit squarish, but not fully. And that's because the mould is a square, but with the corners trimmed. It is quite an uneven piece, so the thicker fabric allowed a far more even looking button to be made. 

This one is one of my favourites so far. The fabric appears to be a fine black cotton - but there are two layers, and the bottom layer shows some patterning. These were sewn over a nice bright red button. 

I image a home dressmaker, making a patterned something that needed one button - at the neckline perhaps. She chose the red button but just wasn't happy with it, so covered it with a bit of the offcut fabric.... 

However, nothing beats the find of my button collecting friend Cheryl Killam. She found a group of covered buttons that were so thick she carefully took apart the layers. She found four layers - and at the core - a beautiful, yet very faded - death's head button. Here is her image of four of the buttons - with each layer shown. How cool is that.

At the weekend, I lost a good friend to Covid far before her time. She was someone who was passionate about reusing and recycling - why she even presented Prince Charles with a reusable fabric bag once! She made so many reusable bags, literally 100s, that she would give away to anyone, she never took money for them. She would bring them to my workshops so that everyone could take away their makes. This post really is in tribute to her - showing how we can reuse instead of throw away.

Take care and stay safe everyone.