Dorset Button Tutorials

About

Dorset buttons were first made commercially in the English county of Dorset in the seventeenth century. For the next 200 years, making buttons by hand was a thriving cottage industry in the region; anyone not capable of or interested in working in the fields could survive by making buttons.

In one day, successful button makers could create as many as six or seven dozen buttons, which amazes me! The invention in the mid-1800s of the button-making machine put an end to the Dorset cottage industry, but fortunately, Dorset-style buttons are still admired and the technique has survived through the centuries.”

~The Weaving Explorer: Ingenious Techniques, Accessible Tools & Creative Projects with Yarn, Paper, Wire & More

Tutorials

Step by Step Tutorial -
Create Whimsy

Chardel Blaine put together a wonderful step by step instruction on createwhimsy.com.

View on Creative Whimsy Site

Video Tutorial -
Ariane Zurcher

How to: Dorset Buttons - Ariane Zurcher - Vide0 (25:49m)

This video covers how to make a dorset button and a couple of variations on the traditional dorset button.

View on YouTube

Step by Step Tutorial -
Threads Magazine

This Threads Magazine article has my favorite diagrams for learning how to wrap and weave dorset buttons.

View on Threads Magazine Site

Book-
The Weaving Explorer

The Weaving Explorer: Ingenius Techniques, Accessible Tools & Creative Projects with Yarn, Paper, Wire & More. by Deborah Jarchow & Gwen W. Steege offers wonderful suggestions and examples for dorset buttons and is available in ebook or physical copy.

Find Book