Quick Stitch - Yorkshire Buttons

One of my joys last winter was taking part in excellent online learning events by the UK Braid Society.  My first event by published lacemaker Gillian Dye, was on a technique that surprisingly grabbed my attention - Yorkshire Button making.  Less known than passementerie buttons such as the Dorset button, the Yorkshire button has a pleasing rounded organic shape which I recall seeing many a time on historical garments.  As my fingers started to learn the technique on a wintery afternoon, little did I realise how much pleasure weaving would give me and others.

The 21st century mindset is for buttons that are generally flat, and sadly all to often mass produced in plastic.  How often in my stitch work I have come to the end of a project only to struggle with finding a pleasing button.  While there are now many other options for making closures, buttons provide a charming decorative edge which is hard to beat and this is actually where their origins lie.  Cultures around the world developed their own traditions for button making, which in the first instance were purely for those who could afford to decorate garments.  Often soft stuffed like these French antique crocheted buttons, many designs resulted in an uneven shape that is perhaps less appealing to the modern eye.  The Heritage Crafts website gives an excellent account of this history of the creation of these passementerie buttons in England.

The beauty of this Yorkshire button is that unlike many passementerie buttons, the technique is reasonably simple and easy to learn.  All that is required is a simple cardboard template, a smooth yarn or thread and a tapestry needle.  A template of around 4cm is an excellent starting point and should be marked with accurate clock face points that are evenly snipped into by around 3mm.

For this working example I chose a remnant of variagated sock yarn and started with a length approximately one and a half lengths of my arm.  I found it is best to avoid very long working lengths which ususally resulted in thread tangles.  Leaving a tail of at least 20cm, the button is started by bringing up through the central point on the card

Then starts weaving the framework around the card, beginning by pulling the thread into the snip at the 1 oclock position and around the back of the card and up into the 2 o'clock position.

The working thread is then taken diagonally over the template and down into the 7 o'clock snip, round the back and up in the 8 o'clock snip.

And so this pattern of weaving continues, ove to the 2 o'clock position and round the snip and up through the 3 o'clock snip.

The framework 'warp' is continued in this way, going diagonally across the top of the card and down and round the back of the card by one snip and up to the right.  This is of course perfect for right handed workers and the direction can easily be reversed for those who are dominant with their left hand.

When the working thread comes round again to the 12 oclock position, it may look as though something has gone wrong as the 6 o'clock position is empty - this is however as it needs to be.

The warp weaving then continues around the template a second time, finishing with working thread coming up through the 6 o'clock snip.

At this point the back of the template should look like this.  It is important that the wraps around the back are reasonably tight and even, as this will ensure more even weaving and gathering at the end.

Then the needle comes into play.  A tapestry needle is a good option and the slightly rounded point will avoid splitting the yarn - choose a size that is comfortable to work in your hand and has an eye which is easy to thread with your working yarn.  The first weave is behind the 2 threads that sit in the 12 o'clock snip - this will be the one and only time that you weave behind the threads in a single snip.

The next weave is back under the 12 o'clock threads and also under the 11 o'clock threads.  For those who are left handed you can work in the opposite direction and move to the right.

The weaving continues in this way going back under the warp threads immediately to the left of the working thread and ALSO under the next pair of warp threads to the immediete left.

The weaving progresses quickly with a sock weight yarn and it is easy to see and correct any misweavings.

The weaving is continued and when you run out of thread, simply start a new yarn and weave in the tail of the old yard again a spoke for a couple of rounds.  The weaving should then continue right to the edge of the card until it is impossible to fit any more weaving with the working thread.

The weaving can now be removed from the template by turning over and pulling off the securing loops around the snips with the point of your needle.

Then take the working thread and pass the needle through each of the 12 loops in turn and once again through the first loop.

The working thread now becomes a drawstring and after pulling a little the emerging shape is stuffed - I used a firm wool for mine.

I found it best to leave the tail from the start of the button pulled out of the gathered button and I used this to tie the working thread tighly against.

And one finished woolly button - I really liked the soft fuzziness and the way the variaged sock yarn colours fell.

The thread possibilites for making Yorkshire buttons are many, with the general rule that the working yarn should be smooth.  I also enjoying using variagated perle thread in different weights and my students that I shared this technique with did too - particularly for Yorkshire button earrings!  

This techique can also be used to cover flat button forms or old unintersting buttons that might otherwise not see the light of day.

One of my students Meg, so enjoyed the weaving and covering old buttons that she continued until she had sufficient buttons to create this marvellous picture - just perfect for a technique that gave so many of us pleasure and a sense of simple achievement working with our hands.

And a few summers later on a wonderful return trip to the Orkney Isles, I adapted this most enjoyable technique on broken limpet shells - I have a feeling that this simple pleasure will morph into yet another creation along the way :)