Another Different Kind of Button - Dorset Buttons on Hooray For Buttons Day

It's Hooray for Buttons Day and I've tried another type of button this time - Dorset Buttons.  This is my first finished one - a sunflower button and below are some of the steps in creating it.

You start with a ring and in this case I have a wooden ring that I sent away for from Gina-B Silkworks in the UK.  I also got some of my pearl cotton thread from there and splurged on the button making kit that they had as a birthday present to myself in March.  The products are great - the only drawback was the shipping time.  It took almost a month for me to get my package.  

I followed the instructions for this that I found on YouTube.  They were very easy to follow along.  You mark the ring into 20 sections to begin and then wrap the threads of your base color.  I then put the ring on the clip so I could use both hands to knot off the thread on the back.  

The second color was wrapped according to the pattern instructions.  Kind of looks like a thread spirograph at this point.  Again it is knotted off or you can thread the end of the cord and weave it into the back to finish it off.

With the third color, small gathering "stitches" were made at certain intervals to define the sections that will be used for creating the petals.

The petals were created by doing a modified chain stitch which was then subsequently woven to the center.  Sounds harder than it is.  Again the YouTube was very clear on how to do this.

Green chain stitches were added for leaves on either side of the first set of petals and then the top set of petals was added making them just a little bit looser so they have some dimension to them like real flower petals would.  The spaces between the original wrapped threads on the ring were filled with variations of threads using the button hole stitch with the edge turned to the backside rather than on the outside edge of the ring.

The extra yellow thread that was added was a simple wrap around in the appropriate space.  Maybe you can see it here on the back.  

The center is filled with brown French knots.

The second one I did below uses another shade of blue thread in the outside ring and I made the petals a little wider (which I'm not sure I like as much).  

Believe it or not, these actually took less time to do than the Yorkshire buttons that I tried a while ago.  I have pinned lots of samples for these and bought a book and more thread (I know, more craft supplies!!!) to try some more of these.  What can you do with them - you can add a pin backing for a nice little brooch, frame them, or use them as ornaments.  

And on another note - today is also Lost Sock Memorial Day and you should remember - better a lost sock fall out of your pants in public than a pair of yesterday's underwear.