Silk buttons

We had a fiddly day making silk buttons like these on a swanky doublet in the V&A. Carolyn R showed us how - she's a bit of an expert at all things Jacobean, you may remember she came in her underwear to one of our meetings! Have a look at January 2024 in the archive, her work is seriously impressive. 

Turns out making silk buttons is really enjoyable. This is one of Carolyn's super duper ones. Tension is the key and needs a bit of practice but I think we did ok. 

The button is worked round a bead; we made spokes on the bead with a smooth thread and then wove round the spokes - took a bit of trial and error for some of us- filling the whole bead. Another thread then goes in between the spokes and eventually makes the shank which is covered with buttonhole stitch. Great fun and we were all really pleased with our efforts. The photos aren't great I'm afraid - they're a bit tiny to get a good shot of with a phone. Anyway, here's our cute buttons. (Carolyn's are the brown and blue ones in the middle)