A Dorset button is a style of craft-made button originating in the English county of Dorset. Their manufacture was at a peak between 1622 and 1850, after which they were overtaken by machine-made buttons from factories in the developing industries of Birmingham and other growing cities.
Dorset buttons are characteristically made by repeatedly binding yarn over a disc or ring former. [1] There are four main forms and a large number of individual styles within these.
'Wheels' are the most characteristic form of Dorset button and worked on a ring. They are also known as Dorset Cartwheel, Crosswheels, Basket weave andYarrells. [2]
Wheels are made by variations on the same processes of Casting, Slicking, Laying and Rounding: [3]
'High Tops' and 'Dorset Knobs' are patterns that are taller, or nearly as tall, as they are wide. [2] They were the first Dorset buttons to be made, being made on a ram's horn base, before the advent of the metal ring former. They are covered in fabric, then embroidered for decoration. [6] Techniques for making them were lost, but rediscovered in the 1970s. The Dorset Knob also gave its name to a locally produced hard biscuit.
These were made by using a small piece of triangular fabric and rolled and formed into a doughnut shape with a hole in the centre. This form was then covered with blanket stitches
'Singletons' are made on a similar ring former to wheels, but this is padded with a disc of woven fabric that is then embroidered. [2] Their name derives from the Singleton family, who made a speciality of this style in the 17th century. [7] [8]
Buttons only began to be made in England in the 1400s, when the transition began to be made from ties to this new form of closure. [9] Buttons were traded between towns by itinerant peddlers. but there was no organised trade or centres of production beyond this. Around 1600, men's upper-body clothing was beginning its transition from the doublet to the coat. [10] Buttons became larger, more prominent and became a specialist item made by button-makers, rather than tailors.
The first Dorset buttons used products of the local sheep farms: ram's horn as a base and locally produced cloth over this. These were the High Top buttons. The doublet or peascod was fastened by a single central row of small, closely spaced buttons. These were made tall, to avoid the small buttons slipping out of the stiff fabric. As the button line of fashion moved outwards and the garment became more flexible, a wider and lower button was needed, the Dorset Knob.
Linen yarns and fabric were used for quality and commercial work, although some early buttons for local use used cheaper woolen yarns from local herds. Most buttons were produced in their natural colour, but could be dyed to match garments. [6] The use of multiple yarn colours is a predominantly modern trend. Dorset buttons were known and traded widely, but it was a long time before their production was organised into a recognisable industry.
In 1622 Abraham Case moved to Shaftesbury and set up the first commercial button making enterprise. [6] Originally from Gloucestershire, he had been a soldier in Europe during the Thirty Years War but returned and married a girl from Wardour before settling in Shaftesbury. [5] Having seen the direction of European fashions he believed that 'Buttony' would become a thriving industry.
His first buttons were made in a small workshop. Later buttons for the growing trade were made by outworkers working from their homes as piece work. Some farm workers worked on the land during daylight hours, and on button-making in the evenings or in winter. Most though were full-time button-makers. [11] This outwork became the norm and an important source of income for many families, and for those too old to work in the fields.
Buttons were graded by quality. The finest export grade were mounted onto pink cards. Domestic quality were set on dark-blue cards and the lowest quality onto yellow cards. [12] A good buttoner could make around six dozen (72) buttons a day and could earn up to three shillings. [12] Buttons sold at retail for between eight pence and three shillings a dozen. [11] This compared to wages of perhaps 9d a day as a farm worker. It also had the advantage of being a home-based activity, which was more attractive than being outside in all weathers and also reduced expenditure on shoes and the wear and laundering of clothes.
By the end of the 17th century, Buttony had grown to become an important industry, controlled within the Case family. A great many pedlars and hawkers were registered in Shaftesbury, far more than in any other local towns. [5] An Act of Parliament was passed in 1699 that, amongst its export restrictions on woolens, prevented the making of buttons “made of cloth, serge, drugget, or other stuffs”. [13] The Act would remain in force for two hundred years, but in practice appears to have had little lasting effect on trade. [5]
Abraham's sons Abraham Jr. and Elias continued with the business, Elias opening a second depot at Bere Regis. [12] By 1720 there were agencies at Milborne St. Andrew, Sherborne, Poole, Langton Matravers and Tarrant Keyneston. [14]
Around this time, new forms of button were developed. Wire was imported by wagon from the Midlands, then twisted into rings and soldered. [12] These ring formers replaced the previous horn discs and began the characteristic Dorset styles of the wheel buttons. Ring making was carried out by children working as 'Twisters', who formed the rings; 'Dippers', who soldered them shut; and 'Stringers', who tied them into strings for distribution to the button makers. [12]
After a fire in 1731 destroyed the Bere depot, Elias Case, Abraham's son, employed as a manager a Yorkshire businessman, John Clayton, who reorganised the firm. [12] A London sales office was opened by Clayton in 1743, followed in 1744 by a new major depot at Lytchett Minster. Abraham's grandson Peter Case opened an export office in Liverpool. [6] Case family money founded the well-known Cases Street and Clayton Square in Liverpool. [14] Peter Case also developed a new rust-free alloy for making the wire rings. [14]
Smaller collection offices across the county were established at Milborne Stileham, [3] Sixpenny Handley, Piddletrenthide, Langton and Wool. [12] At one time 'Buttony' employed 4,000 people with a turnover of £14,000. [6]
The hand-made Dorset Button was slowly replaced by machine-made buttons. The first cloth-and-thread button machine was invented by Benjamin Saunders in 1825. The Saunders machine was closely followed by others including one by John Aston in the early 1840s.
Amongst the many industrial machines on display at the Great Exhibition was Mr John Ashton's button-making press, first patented in 1841. [5] This could manufacture buttons from thin metal sheet far more quickly and cheaply than hand work. These new buttons had the advantage of smart modernity. Birmingham would soon become a major centre for this type of costume jewellery and small presswork. The centralised factories, steam power and access to venture capital could not be competed with by the small-scale enterprises of rural Dorset.
Although the agrarian economy of Dorset remained profitable, the collapse of button-making led to much personal hardship. Many joined the mass emigrations to Australia, Canada or the USA. Some became destitute and entered the workhouse. [11]
The last surviving descendant of Abraham Case died at Milborne St. Andrew in 1908. [14] In the Edwardian period, renewed interest in traditional crafts led Florence, Dowager Lady Lees to attempt to revive the industry but this was frustrated by the outbreak of the Great War. [14] It was also attempted by the newly formed Women's Institute after the war, but to no avail. [6] [11]
In 2017, the Heritage Crafts Association included button making as one of their list of endangered heritage crafts. [15]
Dorset buttons have given their name to the Dorset Buttons ladies' Morris side. The side was formed in 1978 at Wareham in Dorset. Although a Dorset side, they dance in the North West tradition, wearing wooden-soled clogs. Their colours are red and green with straw hats covered in Dorset buttons. [16]
Crochet is a process of creating textiles by using a crochet hook to interlock loops of yarn, thread, or strands of other materials. The name is derived from the French term croc, which means 'hook'. Hooks can be made from a variety of materials, such as metal, wood, bamboo, bone or even plastic. The key difference between crochet and knitting, beyond the implements used for their production, is that each stitch in crochet is completed before the next one is begun, while knitting keeps many stitches open at a time. Some variant forms of crochet, such as Tunisian crochet and broomstick lace, do keep multiple crochet stitches open at a time.
Knitting is a method for production of textile fabrics by interlacing yarn loops with loops of the same or other yarns. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine.
Patchwork or "pieced work" is a form of needlework that involves sewing together pieces of fabric into a larger design. The larger design is usually based on repeating patterns built up with different fabric shapes. These shapes are carefully measured and cut, basic geometric shapes making them easy to piece together.
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the only manufacturing method, and many other methods were later developed to form textile structures based on their intended use. Knitting and non-woven are other popular types of fabric manufacturing. In the contemporary world, textiles satisfy the material needs for versatile applications, from simple daily clothing to bulletproof jackets, spacesuits, and doctor's gowns.
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or other lubricants to withstand the stresses involved in sewing. Embroidery threads are yarns specifically designed for needlework. Yarn can be made of a number of natural or synthetic materials, and comes in a variety of colors and thicknesses. Although yarn may be dyed different colours, most yarns are solid coloured with a uniform hue.
Tunisian crochet or Afghan crochet is a type of crochet that uses an elongated hook, often with a stopper on the handle end, called an Afghan hook. It is sometimes considered to be a mixture of crocheting and knitting. As such, some techniques used in knitting are also applicable in Tunisian crochet. One example is the intarsia method.
Worsted is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk. That village, together with North Walsham and Aylsham, formed a manufacturing centre for yarn and cloth in the 12th century, when pasture enclosure and liming rendered the East Anglian soil too rich for the older agrarian sheep breeds. In the same period, many weavers from the County of Flanders moved to Norfolk. "Worsted" yarns/fabrics are distinct from woollens : the former is considered stronger, finer, smoother, and harder than the latter.
A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole.
Fiber art refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labor on the part of the artist as part of the works' significance, and prioritizes aesthetic value over utility.
Fair Isle (/fɛəraɪ̯l/) is a traditional knitting technique used to create patterns with multiple colours. It is named after Fair Isle, one of the Shetland Islands. Fair Isle knitting gained considerable popularity when the Prince of Wales wore Fair Isle jumpers in public in 1921. Traditional Fair Isle patterns have a limited palette of five or so colours, use only two colours per row, are worked in the round, and limit the length of a run of any particular colour.
Nålebinding is a fabric creation technique predating both knitting and crochet. Also known in English as "knotless netting", "knotless knitting", or "single-needle knitting", the technique is distinct from crochet in that it involves passing the full length of the working thread through each loop, unlike crochet where the work is formed only of loops, never involving the free end. It also differs from knitting in that lengths must be pieced together during the process of nålebinding, rather than a continuous strand of yarn that can easily be pulled out. Archaeological specimens of fabric made by nålebinding can be difficult to distinguish from knitted fabric.
A buttonhole is a reinforced hole in fabric that a button can pass through, allowing one piece of fabric to be secured to another. The raw edges of a buttonhole are usually finished with stitching. This may be done either by hand or by a sewing machine. Some forms of button, such as a frog, use a loop of cloth or rope instead of a buttonhole.
A shank is a device for providing a small amount of space in between a garment and a button. Shanks are necessary to provide space for fabric to sit in between the button and the garment when the garment is buttoned. Shanks also allow a garment to drape nicely.
Phulkari refers to the folk embroidery of the Punjab region and Gulkari of Sindh in South Asia.
Embroidery in India includes dozens of embroidery styles that vary by region and clothing styles. Designs in Indian embroidery are formed on the basis of the texture and the design of the fabric and the stitch. The dot and the alternate dot, the circle, the square, the triangle, and permutations and combinations of these constitute the design.
In knitting, casting on is a family of techniques for adding new stitches that do not depend on earlier stitches, i.e., having an independent lower edge. In principle, it is the opposite of binding off, but the techniques involved are generally unrelated.
Knitted fabric is a textile that results from knitting, the process of inter-looping of yarns or inter-meshing of loops. Its properties are distinct from woven fabric in that it is more flexible and can be more readily constructed into smaller pieces, making it ideal for socks and hats.
The manufacture of textiles is one of the oldest of human technologies. To make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fiber from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving, which turns it into cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. For decoration, the process of colouring yarn or the finished material is dyeing. For more information of the various steps, see textile manufacturing.
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic Era. Although usually associated with clothing and household linens, sewing is used in a variety of crafts and industries, including shoemaking, upholstery, sailmaking, bookbinding and the manufacturing of some kinds of sporting goods. Sewing is the fundamental process underlying a variety of textile arts and crafts, including embroidery, tapestry, quilting, appliqué and patchwork.
Monk's cloth is a loosely woven cotton or linen fabric made of coarser yarns that drape well.
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