The Basic Dorset Button

Day 294: I thought a revisit to Dorset buttons was in order for today so that I could show you a real one (as opposed to "needle-lace" style). Have I mentioned that I don't get out much these days, what with a little wild creature to tame, gas prices, hot weather, and a round of covid combining to keep me off the trails? I'm a bit desperate for material again, so bear with me. Anyway, the traditional and most basic Dorset button is made in this manner: using a single length of thread (4 meters here), a closely packed base of buttonhole stitch is applied over a ring (in this case, a 1" plastic curtain ring). The bumps around the outer edge are turned to the inside of the ring, and then using the same thread, a web of spokes is wound over it, progressing as if following the numbers on a clock. The number of spokes is up to the individual. When the spokes are complete, the center of the web will appear quite chaotic until a few cross-stitches are worked at the middle to separate them. Once the spokes have been isolated, the winding of the wheel begins. The thread is brought up from the back to the left of a spoke (assuming the worker is right-handed), then taken down through to the right of the same spoke. It is brought up again two spokes to the left (counting the spoke just wrapped). It is then taken down to the right of the leftmost spoke, creating a wrap around it. Again, bring the thread up two spokes to the left, and repeat around and around and around and around until the web of spokes is covered. I ran a bit short of thread before getting all the way out to the buttonholed ring, and because it's difficult to join a new thread seamlessly, I decided to let it stand as is. After all, this was just for a demonstration and, in fact, many old buttons were made this way without completely covering the spokes. With different ways to wind, many different patterns can be made over the spokes, even many which are not geometric, such as trees and nosegays.