With the holidays coming up, hand-made trinkets, ornaments, and decorations are on my mind!
They are especially on my mind right now because, here in the studio, we’re in the throes of creating a little line of lovely and fun Christmas ornaments. That shouldn’t surprise you – I’ve been sneak-peeking parts of them to you for a little while.
I was juggling some ideas around in my head, playing with certain ornamental notions, trying to create a finishing solution, when the Dorset button popped into my head.
I always think of Dorset buttons as a really fun adventure. There’s a lot you can do with them, and the variations that you can achieve as you play with them are pretty much endless.
I’ve made Dorset buttons – and variations – many times to include on projects, as useful, buttony parts. (You can see an example here.)
And I’ve written about Dorset buttons before. This article, which feature’s my friend Anita’s abundant dive into creating her own collection of Dorset buttons, includes links at the end of the article to tutorials and other resources.
Because I was contemplating them with great energy recently, I thought I would bring the subject up with you all again, since it has been years and years! Perhaps they can figure in to your upcoming creative pursuits.
You will find an excellent resource for learning about Dorset buttons and how to make them over here on Henry’s Buttons in the UK.
On the Henry’s Button’s website, you’ll find this inspirational gallery of images that will give you some great ideas for what to do with Dorset buttons, beyond using them as buttons.
You’ll also find this excellent resource page that offers all kinds of useful information, as well as a page of downloadable worksheets that have excellent instructions on them.
Now, I would love to tell you that I ended up working the Dorset button into my current project plans… but I didn’t. I did, however, put them on the list for another idea that sprang from my brainstorming session. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
In the meantime, I’m going forward to make more mistakes today! I can’t wait to see what comes of them!
What’s Up
I hope your week is going well! Here in the studio, ours is going swimmingly! Anna and I have gotten back into the swing of regular work (we had a two week interruption that kept things topsy-turvy here while we worked another gig) and everything’s trucking along nicely right now.
We have a boatload of stuff on order for new kits coming out, and before those goods descend upon us en masse, we are stitching relatively peacefully. I’m working up the next Stitch Snippet, writing some tutorials, and making Lists. (I make a lot of lists!) Anna’s test-stitching other project ideas. Between times, we are working on a line of beautiful little hand-crafted Christmas needle minders.
We’ve stocked a lovely Christmas keepsake needle pack from Bohin recently, if you haven’t seen it. I tried to stock enough to carry us through into the holiday season, but I’m not sure if they’ll last till December. We shall see! Bohin needles are among the best out there – this is a great way to try a nice collection of them.
We also have another small batch of needle minders in stock right now, and we have pretty much all of our floche in stock, too!
Next week, we’ll have some more ready-to-stitch Christmas towel sets underway, so we will be adding more to the ones currently available.
You can find all these goodies in my shop here on Needle ‘n Thread!
Things are good. It’s nice to be caught up for a little while!
Mary, another nice style of handmade button is a Yorkshire button: https://www.ginabsilkworks.co.uk/yorkshire-button-kit. Both Dorset and Yorkshire buttons can be a unique and custom detail on handknits and handsewn garments and an affordable alternative to the buttons stocked by nice yarn shops, which are often very expensive now.
Beautiful. I have a lace collar that consists of mostly Dorset buttons; it’s black and huge!
Dear Mary
How are you, I hope you are keeping well. It looks like you are having a busy time in the studio with Anna. All the kits you create look lovely. I’m currently making a topsy turvy doll with four faces and dresses. 2 Cinderella’s and Hansel and Gretal for my Niece. It’s has certainly stretched my creativity but I do like a challenge. I will send you photos if you like when it is finished.
Thank you so much for reminding me of the selection of Dorset buttons I made a few years ago. There are so many varieties you can make with these buttons that it is a delight to create them.
Thank you for sharing the Dorset Button with us they are great to make and thank you for the news on the forthcoming kits and other delights.
Regards Anita Simmance
Thank you for the information about Dorset Buttons. Do you have any experience with Dorset Embroidery? I’ve read the book from maybe the 50’s and did a sample, but can’t find any other information.
Hi, Lynn – What’s the name of the book? I’d like to look it up – I’m intrigued. I’ve not heard of specific “Dorset Embroidery” before.
The book I have is called “Dorset Feather Stitchery” by Olivia Pass. I made a sampler that I can share with you. The main technique is lots of stitch whipping.
I gave each of the members of my knitting group a Bohin holiday needle pack last year during our holiday lunch (we don’t restrict ourselves to just knitting). It made for a festive favor that didn’t need wrapping and was useful and needlework related. These ticked all the boxes!
I just love when I see a post from you! Your work is just breath taking and I love looking at the pictures up close. Thank you for always sharing.
I have made Dorset buttons for a few years and they are so fun. I crochet and it is nice to have a button that matches or actually blends in on some projects. I haven’t used beads (and I am a crazy bead fanatic!) generally because the item I’ve made is machine washable. I am wild for the look of the beaded Dorset buttons you’ve done. I am definitely itching to make some beaded ones – for ornaments or maybe brooches!!
Love your site – so inspiring !
Thanks, Amy! 🙂 I think Dorset buttons are great on crochet projects, too! And as for beads, yes, I’m a bead fanatic as well. I’m not sure how it happened. At one point in my embroidery life, I never thought about beads. Next thing I new, I was obsessed with them. LOL!