All Buttoned Up:

Seventeenth Century Covered Button Techniques

Button covering is a lost art for many modern seamstresses. As with many accessories in fashion history, a much wider variety was available in the past and hand made buttons are too expensive to be mass produced and are relegated to custom clothing or craft making today.

A cottage industry in England for several hundred years, button making has a long history, too detailed to cover here. Instead, this article will focus on two distinct types of covered buttons, Leek buttons and Singleton buttons, popular in the 1600s and the techniques used to produce them.

SINGLETON BUTTONS:

Produced by the Singleton family in the later part of the 17th century, Singleton buttons are distinctive in that they are made from a fabric covered ring, about 1/2 inch in diameter. The original ring was made from sheep's horn or bone. It is possible to obtain antique rings if you keep an eye out on ebay or shop at various antique button suppliers. However, since the button is completely covered, it would not be heresy to use a plastic ring such as fabric stores carry for cafe curtains in their notions departments.

Materials needed include 1/2 inch diameter rings, fabric, 100% natural fiber thread such as cotton quilting thread, and a needle.

Cut out a piece of fabric approximately twice the size of the ring, then run a gathering stitch around the edge of the fabric. Putting the ring in the center, pull the thread to gather the fabric into a little pocket. Fold the edge of the fabric to the inside of the pocket to hide the raw edges. When the edges are enclosed neatly, make stitches around the back of the button to close it off and tighten the fabric. Think of it as a clock: Start at 12 o'clock and stitch across to 6 o'clock, 6 to 1, 1 to 7, 7 to 2, 2 to 8, 8 to 3 and so on until the entire back is covered.

Next you'll need to stitch the ring so that it doesn't slide around in the fabric. Use a back stitch to stitch around the inside of the ring on top of the button, as close as possible to the ring, in a circle.

To stitch the ring to your garment, you'll need to create a thread shank. Stitch two parallel lines across the center back, then weave the thread between the two lines, in and out. Now you have a Singleton button.

LEEK BUTTONS:

Leek buttons are a type of thread or floss wrapped button named after the town in England where they were originally made in the mid-1600s. Silk thread was the most common textile used and they were most often seen on men's outwear. There are many designs that come under the Leek designation, but here we'll cover one called the Star.

Materials needed include 5/8 inch disk mold, silk embroidery thread, and a tapestry needle.

Begin by making an X with the thread on the surface of the disk., holding the thread in back and wrapping the thread in the X pattern three or four times. Using the four corners of the X, make a square on the surface of the button, going top right to top left, top left to bottom left, pass around the back to come up at the bottom right to the bottom left, pass around the back of the button from the bottom left to the top right, top right to bottom right, bottom right passes along the back of the button to the top left, top left to the bottom left. Pass along back to top right.

Now, when going from top right to top left, and repeating as above, pass thread under the last thread laid down before. Keep wrapping until you have the button covered with thread and the shape of an X appears on the button. End at the back of the button, come up to place one stitch through the hole in the middle of the mold, ending again in the back. Tie off and straighten the thread with your needle. Instead of creating a shank, stitch the button directly to the garment.