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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Dorset => Topic started by: Lydart on Sunday 20 April 08 20:05 BST (UK)
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This is a sampler made by my mother. She was taught how to make them by her grandmother, Mary Williams (nee Trowbridge) from More Crichel, Dorset, whom I believe was probably a spare time button maker. I know Mary was still alive in 1912; my mother says she was taught how to make them by her grandmother when she was only seven, which would have been in 1914. My mother was severely disabled, but went on to become a court dressmaker, so she started on the sewing young !
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Dear Lydart
No-one seems to hae posted a reply so I thought I would - I have a couple of leaflets on Dorset Buttons, and have had a go myself using the instructions, but they bear absolutely no resemblance to your mothe'rs which are so beautiful - you must be so proud!
Regards
Derby Girl
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Hello Derby Girl ... and a warm welcome to RootsChat !
Do you have Dorset connections ?
And what are the leaflets you have about Dorset buttons ... can you tell me where you got them, or could you scan or photocopy and let me have a copy if possible please ?
PM me if you can help, and I'll send you my personal email ...
I am very pleased to have the sampler ... my mother was seven when she made it, which would have been 1914 ! Its very grubby though, and I dare not wash it ! I don't know what is inside the domes of the buttons ...
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If you Google "Dorset Buttons" there are lots of links, including the basic method on how to make them.
Yours do look to be enhanced and very attractive.
Spring
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Dear Lydart
Will look out the leaflets - one came from Dorset County Museum, in Dorchester. Yes I do have Dorset links as my husband comes from Dorchester. The other leaflet when I find it is a WI one. Will get back to you when I find them.
Regards
Derby Girl
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Thanks for that Derby Girl ! I look forward to more news ...
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Dear Lydart
It might be a week or so before I can find the leaflets as I am away from home at present. All I can find is an article from a family history magazine that I kept with history and resource suggestions.
Regards
Derby Girl
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I see there is a booklet about the history of Dorset clothing in the "Discover Dorset" series from the Dovecote Press. I haven't seen this one in the local bookshop, but the other ones on bridges, farmhouses etc, are quite good and cost about £5 (or £2-ish used on Amazon). If I notice the dress and textiles one, I'll see if it mentions buttons.
("Discover Dorset Dress and textiles", Rachel Worth, The Dovecote Press, Wimborne.)
Fred :)
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Thanks Fred ... I'll see if I can locate a copy ...
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My mum taught me to make several types of buttons when I was little ...she was a tailor by trade...and I have just found out today...after googling ...that one type was called a Dorset button. I used a metal curtain ring and either wool or crochet cotton to make them. I never knew that they had a specific name before. Very interesting Lydart :) Thank you.
The buttons on the sampler...what material are they made from....are some made with wool felt?
mab
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No, the grey background is a piece of thick cotton or linen, and its been backed with muslin. The actual buttons are all domed, but without taking one to pieces, I have no idea whats inside them. The sewing on the buttons is (now a bit grubby :( ) white thick cotton thread.
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Do they feel soft like they have stuffing in them...trying to figure it out as well...what does the back look like? They used to have forms for making buttons but I'm not sure when they were invented.
mab
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I just had a look for "buttons" in some of the County History books and came up with the following:
Abraham Case found a large number of sheep horns when he moved to Shaftesbury in 1622. He sliced them into discs and covered them with embroidered linen thus making his first buttons. It says that Charles I had Case buttons on his waistcoat when he was executed.
Early in the 18th century, demand for buttons was outstripping the supply of horn, so Case's grandson discovered that brass rings were a good substitute. The rings were made by winding a coil of wire round a tube, then slicing each loop into a ring. The ends were joined together by dipping them in lead solder. The rings were tied together by the gross. The children who made the rings were known as "winders, dippers and stringers" and they were liable to both burning and lead poisoning.
In 1731, the industry was reorganized by the Case's manager. He formed two gathering depots at Shaftesbury and Bere Regis where the materials were kept with smaller depots across the region. On a given day, the workers would bring their buttons to the depot and receive their pay, material and rings for the week. The buttons were sorted at the depot and put on cards, pink for best, blue for standard and yellow for seconds. A good worker could make a gross of buttons a day or 12/- a week. Case's employed 4000 in 1803 with a £14,000 turnover and over 100 different types of button were being made.
Around 1852, a new button machine came into use in Birmingham which killed the trade almost overnight and many families had to emigrate to avoid starvation.
I hope that's of interest, my gt-gt granny was a Case so I think there might be a connection :)
Fred
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Very interesting Fred.. I was given a box of buttons by an elderly lady just before she passed away. That was about 25 years ago and she was in her 80's then. There are some very weird and strange buttons/fasteners.....there is one in particular that I'm thinking of taking to our local museum.
mab
added: sorry off topic :-\
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Dear Lydart
Have found WI booklet - very, very basic - but not the booklet from the Dorset County Museum.
Regards
Derby Girl
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This adds a little to the story ...
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,335156.msg2147918.html#msg2147918
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Hi Lydart
The Cavalcade of Costume Museum in Blandford have a case full of Dorset Buttons... I used to do Cavalcade years ago when I was a teenager and was a steward when the costumes went into the museum. They're not open on a Monday & Tuesday so can't check but they used to sell packs with all the material and instructions to make them.
I can make several different versions of them, well I haven't done any for a long time!
It might be worth giving them a call, I can't remember off the top of my head what the ones you have are called but someone there might be able to take a look and tell you... I know there are 'Dorset knobs' and 'High tops'...
There website is at http://www.cavalcadeofcostume.co.uk and they mention the buttons on the accessories page.
HTH
Jennifer
(Dorset OPC)
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Thanks for that ... I saw some Dorset buttons in a display upstairs in Dorchester Museum, but mine are huge compared to those ! Still ... made by a seven year old ...
I think these are 'Dorset Knobs' !! :o High tops are taller and more pyramidical.
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I think the well known "Dorset Knob" biscuits which they make at Morecombelake are named after the buttons which were made in the locality.
Fred :)
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Yep, my mother loves them she used to eat them all the time. They are round, a bit smaller than a tennis ball see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset_Knob << from my memory they are fairly solid and if you try to eat them whole you can come acropper! I'm not sure if it was when they had gone really stale or what but I can distinctly remember me and my brother throwing them at the shed wall and them bouncing!
There's also a pub in Parkstone called the Dorset Knob.
Back to buttons try here ... http://danceswithwool.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/dorset-buttons-little-bits-of-history/
and a tutorial on how to make them here ... http://www.homeofthesampler.com/howtos/craftypod.html
Jen
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Thank you for those two links, especially the 'how to make' one ... I'm inspired to go and get the materials and have a go !
I'll report back ... knowing the speed at which I work, in about a years time !
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I've made my first Dorset Button !
It took me over an hour at the pub tonight (Wednesday is ladies knitting-at-the-pub night !).
I shall take a photo of it and post it tomorrow !
I'm all excited now ... I have established what feels like a very direct link to Great Granny !!
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;D...they are fun to make Lydart....I made dozens when I was a kid ;D
mab
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;D Great you could have a go
I'll have to try and find out all the paperwork I have on Dorset buttons as I did some research on them when I was at Cavalcade, I'd forgotten all about it.. popped into my head today when I had a look at a book at the history centre.
In the 'old' days the buttons would have been taken off every time a garment was washed! They aren't very practical for clothes now; I made a kind of mobile/multi dreamcatcher hanging thing ... that's the only way I can explain it LOL, several strands of 8 or 10 buttons connected with thread of about 1/2 inch which I beaded to give them weight and stop them getting tangled, then I got some tiny little bells from a craft shop to put on the bottom. I don't know where it went but my girls had it in their room when they were small and loved it.
You know I haven't done anything crafty for years, this thread is getting me all tempted again :D
Jen
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Better come to our Wednesday-evening-at-the-pub-by-the Wye ladies-knitting-night !!
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Here's my frst attempt ... I started large, and simple, as I thought it would be easier to learn on a big button than on the tiny ones like I saw in Dorchester museum ...
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Lydart :D it doesn't look like a first attempt to me :D
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Certainly is ... I bought a curtain ring about one inch across, as I thought it would be easier to learn on something big ... like when you learn to knit; you dont start with cables and fair isle, but with a string dish-cloth !
It took me an hour and a half ... to think that Great Granny could probably turn out dozens of tiny buttons per day ... :o
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Geatgranny probably had all the time in the world back then ... her fingers were a lot smaller and more nimble as well..... :D
Hey .... so what if it took you longer, at least you attempted it... give yourself a pat on the back .. and don't sell yourself short for trying..... ;D
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Great Granny had 13 children ! So I doubt she had any time at all spare !!
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Well, it was probably her time out from things ;D Wonder if it was done at night? ;D I often wonder how my rellies managed with 15 to 18 children ;D
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More likely done because they needed the money !
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I would agree with you there :D
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I used to make them and use them as plates in my doll house and sometimes I would glue flowers to them and they became hats for my Barbie dolls ;D Oh well :P ::)
mab
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I suppose it had to happen ! Daughter #3 took up the challenge and made one so small I had to put my specs on to see it !
(This is a UK £1 coin, in case anyone overseas queries !)
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I meant to post to you when I saw your post about Dorset buttons, I went on a two day course about 25 years ago, think the tutor was the curator of the button museum, anyway it was a brilliant course we were shown how to make all the different styles. I found it was so useful to make my own buttons, and some I have turned into earrings. Since then I have run a couple of workshops for spinning guilds. I was so pleased to find I had Dorset ancestors but yet to find any button makers but keep looking the nearest I have got is a hat, and umbrella maker.
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Aha ! Is your Williams from Dorset ??
(I forget the people I have already asked this question, so forgive if I have asked before !)
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No our williams are from Holyhead, my Dorset family are Marsh, pity it would have been nice if we had had a link.
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Ah well :( worth asking ! If there had been a link, you'd have had a Dorset Williams Dorset button maker on your tree !!
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Hello,
I have just come across this thread, so I hope you don't mind me butting in.
Until I could no longer see well enough I used to run a one woman business making all sorts of hand (not machine) embroidered things, boxes, pictures, bookmarks, beadwork, gold and silver work, all sorts, and sold them at craft fairs.
To attract people to my stall, one of the things I also used to do was to make Dorset buttons and show children how to make them into badges. Basically, all the stitches used are embroidery stitches but executed in the round rather than just flat.
It was originally a cottage industry in much the same way as the bobbin lace makers and stitched lace makers were in Buckinghamshire, Notts, and Devon. Most lower class women and children of villages were employed and the fruits of their labour were collected by agents who sold it in the quality shops of towns and cities. The agents also provided the raw materials at a cost.
The stuffing for the knobs and hightops was usually hard packed raw scraps of washed wool in much the same way as raised stumpwork is created. An old Dorset button though is created just with packed rounds of tiny embroidery stitches.
The thread used was not cotton (that came much later) but tightly spun, double twisted, worsted wool or linen or a mixture of both. Really high quality buttons were made with spun silk.
Spinning flax to make linen thread I could never really get on with, but spinning wool, silk, and hair was part of what I did, my spinning wheel fascinating those who stopped to watch.
Vicwinann
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Hi Vicwinann, interested in your reply to the dorset button thread. The history of the dorset button makers is fascinating. I also spin and used to belong to the Little London spinners down in Lockerley, We used to go to various shows demonstrating, and have carried on going to shows in Wales. I hope that you are able to continue spinning, such a relaxing hobby.
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I am researching Abraham Case and family re: Dorset Buttons. Can anyone point me in the direction of primary sources for his birth, army service, marriage in 1622, children (allegedly Abraham Junior and Elias, grandson Peter et al! I have tried Ancestry/Parish Records without any clear links. Yet conventional wisdom credits him with marrying a girl from Old Wardour and settling in Shaftesbury to start the Dorset Button industry! Any suggestions?
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Hi,
The Dorset OPC site has a great variety of records:
http://www.opcdorset.org/
Good Luck!
Nanny Jan
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There is an excellent leaflet/booklet on Dorset Button that writes quite a bit about A.Case. the booklet, I believe has been reprinted, it does not give specific dates of birth or marriage but is very interesting.
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I googled "Dorset Buttons" and it appears Abraham originated in the Cotswolds.............
Perhaps if you get in touch with the "Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard" newspaper they might be able to help in some way - country newspapers love a quirky article!
Also the Gloucs FHS can very possibly help or put you in touch with someone who can.
And have you searched the National Archive for paperwork re Abraham's military service??
Good luck! :)
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What a fascinating topic .............. I adore Dorset Buttons and has made my day finding this ;D
They are part of the "curriculum" for City & Guilds Embroidery or at least they were when I was studying around the millenium. Some found them a bit of a faff but I loved doing them albeit the flat ones worked over brass curtain rings as Lydart has done. Am just trying to think if I still have any samples incorporating them :-\
Casalguidi :)
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One of my daughters is very 'ethnic' if that's the word ! She gets given fleeces of various colours, including alpaca, and spins; then she knits the wool up into jumpers and cardi's .... and at that stage, they need buttons, so she makes those too, as in my previous examples.
I love to think she is carrying on what her two and three times great grandmother was doing. Daughter probably doesn't think of that connection with her ancestors, but I do !
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Hello,
I hope that you do not mind me butting in - I discovered your post while doing a general search. I am a maker, researcher and teacher of passementerie (textile trimmings - in particular historic items) and so was very very excited to see this beautiful sampler.
Whilst I am not an expert in the lives of button makers in Dorset or elsewhere, I do know a bit about their general history and can perhaps give you some extra info, if you are still looking. The industry itself was actually quite massive, and while makers worked from home, many people earned their livelihoods making buttons - as I understand it, when the industry collapsed thanks to the button machines, many families left for Australia.
What is particularly interesting in your sampler, from my point of view, is that at least four of the buttons are types that are usually found as decorative coverings for satin-wrapped or cloth covered buttons not normally, as far as I know, associated with the area. Don't get me wrong - there are some that are associated, as have already been mentioned - the Dorset Knob (which appears to be the first one, second row), High Top and various 'Singletons' (singletons were still made using rings though, not on the padded shape shown here)- And so, the sampler perhaps sheds a little extra light on what was taught, as in 1914 there really wasn't an industry left at all (there was a slight revival attempted by Lady Lees but only generated £38 in 1912 - with expenses of £36!)
I would love to be able to discuss your sampler in more detail with you as I think that I may be able to tell you how most were made (Though I cannot see the details of the stitches in the image posted)
This recent publication might be of interest - "Dorset Buttons Hand Stitched in Dorset for over 300 years" by Thelma Johns
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I've really enjoyed reading your stories about Buttony, I am currently researching it and would welcome any stories, facts, or history to add the research I have been doing over the last 25 years.
Thank you