Dorset button

A Dorset button is a style of craft-made button originating in the English county of Dorset. Their manufacture was at a peak between 1622 and 1850, after which they were overtaken by machine-made buttons from factories in the developing industries of Birmingham and other growing cities.

Dorset buttons are characteristically made by repeatedly binding yarn over a disc or ring former. There are three main forms and a large number of individual styles within these.

'Wheels' are the most characteristic form of Dorset button. They are also known as Blandford Cartwheel, Crosswheels, Basket weave, Birds eye, Yarrell and Mites.

Wheels are made by variations on the same processes of Casting, Slicking, Laying and Rounding:

'High Tops' or 'Knobs' are patterns that are taller, or nearly as tall, as they are wide. They were the first Dorset buttons to be made, being made on a ram's horn base, before the advent of the metal ring former. They are covered in fabric, then embroidered for decoration. Techniques for making them were lost, but rediscovered in the 1970s. The Dorset Knob also gave its name to a locally produced hard biscuit.

'Singletons' are made on a similar ring former to wheels, but this is padded with a disc of woven fabric that is then embroidered. Their name derives from the Singleton family, who made a speciality of this style in the 17th century.

Toggles and simple buttons had been made throughout England since time immemorial to meet local needs. Buttons were traded between towns by itinerant peddlers. but there was no organised trade or centres of production beyond this. Around 1600, men's upper-body clothing was beginning its transition from the doublet to the coat. Buttons became larger, more prominent and became a specialist item made by button-makers, rather than tailors.

The first Dorset buttons used products of the local sheep farms: ram's horn as a base and locally produced cloth over this. These were the High Top buttons. The doublet or peascod was fastened by a single central row of small, closely spaced buttons. These were made tall, to avoid the small buttons slipping out of the stiff fabric. As the button line of fashion moved outwards and the garment became more flexible, a wider and lower button was needed, the Dorset Knob.

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