Handmade Buttons Workshop

Yesterday I attended the Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild "Making Lace Buttons" workshop, with Nancy Nehring, who you can find at her website, Lace Buttons. Nancy is the author of 50 Heirloom Buttons to Make, a book that makes you just drooool over the pretties. Sadly, the book is out of print, and while there is a Kindle edition available, the Kindle e-book is only in black and white and messes up the pagination (the pictures are not necessarily where they're supposed to be). But the e-book is better than nothing.

In person Nancy is energetic, very knowledgeable about buttons, and an experienced teacher. She has the sort of technical, visual and mechanical mind that would have made her a great engineer, if she hadn't discovered a better calling.

I also want to put in a plug for workshops in general. I'm pretty good at figuring things out, but getting a chance to sit down with someone who has already spent hours figuring this stuff out is invaluable. I got tips that took me from just fiddling to making buttons in no time. I also just love the overflow of creative energy at a workshop: give fifteen people the same instructions, and you get fifteen different results. I just love that.

Anyway, here are the buttons I made:

My sample buttons.

Make no mistake: making these fancy buttons is fiddly and time consuming. But if you're really fond of tedious handwork (like me) and have at least some manual dexterity, really, go for it. Go look at the photos in Nancy's book. The results are just ridiculously lovely.

Two "wrapped braid buttons", called "Soutache Checkerboards"
in the book.

Two more "wrapped braid buttons", the "Evening Star"
 on the left, and the "Morning Star" on the right. These are
made from hemp cord. Other folks in the class used a finer,
smoother cord, which made for a more refined button,
 in my opinion.

The "Singleton" button (named after the Singleton family,
who at one point had a monopoly on this style of button).
It's fabric wrapped around a ring. I added a little bit of
chainstitch embroidery to it, for visual interest.

Two "Victorian Needle Lace" buttons, "Victorian Flag"
 on the left, and "Victorian Star" on the right. These are
silk beading cord over silk charmeuse.

Here are the backs of the buttons. The four on the right have
wrapped shanks, mostly because it helps keep the cord in place.
I didn't bother to put shanks on the three on the right, and
according the Nancy, period buttons rarely had shanks.

I stuck the buttons onto what I call my sample board, which contains a combination of, well, samples, and finished things that are waiting to be attached to a finished article (and..uhm...well, they've been waiting a very long time).

My sample board.
Kinda tells you what I was working on
at one point.

A sample board is a great way to lay out samples and experiments, and have them handy when you're looking for an idea to fill a design. I have another corkboard for more dynamic works-in-progress, a place for me to get stuff out of my head and see how it looks in real life (which is currently blank, and thus a reflection of where my time is -- or rather, is not -- being spent right now). Being able to visualize is a great design tool.

Powder Blue Parasol, Part 2 (the last)

I finished the powder blue cotton parasol that I was embroidering in this earlier post. This parasol was the finished sample for my class last week, though it wasn't really done until I picked up the tassel from Lynn McMasters at the class. Here's the full photo spread I took after the class.

The finished parasol.

The large canopy panels gave me lots of room
to embellish, first with some simple embroidery.

In the upper area I put four rows of tucks.

A small rosette covers the opening in the
center of the canopy..

Small touches make this modern frame
look more period, like these rosettes
on the underside of the canopy.

A full view of the underside.

Another finishing touch, a custom-made tassel
by Lynn McMasters.

Lynn is teaching a class on tassel making at Costume College. She and I have been lamenting how modern tassels and fringe just don't look like the silk tassels and fringe of 100 years ago. She's been developing tassels. I've been developing fringe. But more on that later.

This parasol uses a ring-and-button closure mechanism I've
seen on extant parasols.

And propped in a corner.

For your amusement, here's the reverse sequence of how this parasol came from a modern umbrella.

Edwardian Parasol Workshop

What a fun day! Yesterday I taught a class for the Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild, "Edwardian Parasol Recovering Workshop." I had eleven enthusiastic, talented, and creative students. No one finished, but just about everyone just had to do the final attaching-to-the-frame.

This was the first class I've ever taught for the GBACG (I've taught privately and at Costume College). I do wish everyone had been able to finish, and have some ideas for next time. Yes, there will be a next time, I had a ton of fun and would do it again!

Here's a photo recap of the day (scroll to the end to see some of the results!)

Umbrellas packed, student packets packed.

Parasols packed!

A handful of antiques from my collection. I brought them to
give a lecture on history and mechanics of parasols.

Some more antiques and two modern, recovered parasols.

AJ de-nuding her umbrella, with Tara and Leah.

Chris and Lynn stitching away.

Noelle, cutting deliciously striped silk.

Tara and Judith, who is deeply
contemplating her trims.

Lynn made her two smocking pleaters available for the
class (this one has been at my house for a few
weeks...I've had MUCH FUN with it).

We used them to gather up the rosettes.

And here are some of the results!!!

Judy's stripes.

Judy made her outside rosette extra long. Love it!

Anne's plaid.

Plaids just do GREAT on parasols.

Lynn's, with pinned on gimp
(there will also be FRINGE!)

Great deep dome.

Leah's cotton stripes. You can
run your stripes around, or up and down!

Manon's sea foam blue silk.

Tara's printed silk.

When we stepped outside, it positively
GLOWED.

I'll have follow-up posts for the two frames I prepared as demo's for this workshop, and then maybe I'll, like, stop talking about parasols for a little while. Maybe. ;)

Parasol Workshop, Part 3

This is a follow-on post to my earlier posts documenting steps in recovering a parasol:

Parasol Workshop, Part 1: canopy seams.
Parasol Workshop, Part 2: attaching to the frame.

In this post I describe another odd and unique step in recovering a parasol, which, well, really goes in between parts 1 and 2 above, but anyway, here it is now.

This step describes setting and reinforcing the hole at the center of the canopy. I have found this reinforcement on several extant canopy remnants, and on the modern umbrella that I'm converting into a parasol. My antique frames generally have little to nothing left of the canopy, so I can't tell you that the reinforcement is universal.

In some cases, the reinforcement isn't necessary. In the couple of cases where I've seen it, the seam of the canopy was shorter than the length of the rib. This difference is length is one way to manipulate the shape of the canopy. What happens, though, is that as you pull the canopy to attach it to the rib tip, the hole at the center of the parasol stretches and pulls out of shape. Now every time you close the frame, it'll slip down over the ribs.

So, here is what you do:

1. Put the canopy onto the frame tip. Keep the frame closed. With a double-length of thread, secure the thread about 1/4" from the opening.

I like to place my stitches through the seams, since it's
a sturdy point.

Pass the needle between the threads and under the knot.

2. Back stitch around the opening. Pull the stitches snug against the tip of the frame.

Don't ask why I'm going left to right instead of right to left.
It made sense at the time, and ultimately it doesn't matter
which direction you go.

3. When you're done you have gathered the fabric a little. The stitches should be snug against the frame tip.

Now you're basically ready to finish attaching the canopy to the frame.

Powder Blue Parasol, Part 1

I've been embroidering again. This design is for the parasol I mocked up in this earlier post. One of two, actually, since I'm going to do two versions of this parasol.

Oh right: that's what the umbrellas are all about. The frames are pretty darn good for converting into Edwardian-era parasols.

This design actually has a cutwork component, but I've enlarged it so much that I don't trust the cutwork area (the wedge shapes) to be stable.

Here are all the panels, stacked up and ready to sew...but that'll have to wait for later.

I'm following the philosophy of: if you can find  half hour to do a little sewing (or blogging!) DO.

So, about those umbrellas....

Getting back to those umbrellas: here's one. It's flat, black, boring and very umbrella-like.

"Rainkist" branded umbrella. Sold to me as a
"Leighton Fashion Stick" No idea if they're
the same, but it doesn't matter, the umbrella
I got had these essential features:
manual open, a wooden stick and handle,
and sew-able rib tips. The slider is still
plastic, but I can live with that.

The ribs on this umbrella are quite long, and have some room to flex. So, after a little manipulation of the original canopy, we have this:

Same umbrella, after manipulating the canopy with some pins.

Here's what the result after drawing a new pattern and mocking it up:

Mock-up of the redrafted canopy.

Are we looking more Edwardian-ish yet?

Why does she have so many umbrellas?

I'm almost back! As you can see from the gaps in my posts, I have to take long hiatuses every so often. It's painful to be away from costuming so long, but at least it's temporary.

I'm not quite free to come back yet, but I had a delivery yesterday so I thought I'd post a preview of what's coming up.





Yup, that's over a dozen umbrellas. More to come soon.

Inside the Parasol, Part 1

The parasol canopy that's featured in my earlier workshop posts on parasol restoration (Part 1 and Part 2) wasn't turning out as good as I wanted, so I took it off. This gives me a chance to talk about some of the innards of the parasol canopy. Fair warning: this is going to be a rather pedantic post, but I find these details just SO interesting, and if you're an aficionado of parasols, then hopefully you will, too.

Today I'll be discussing two common features you'll find underneath a parasol canopy. For lack of being able to find consistent terminology, I call these the "donut" and "joint wraps." More on terminology in a moment. I say they are "common" specifically because they are not universal, or at least there is no way for me to prove that they are universal. In the dozens and dozens of parasols I've seen either in person or online, however, I see them more often than not, and thus feel safe to conclude that they are common.

Ok! So first: the "donut" (I'm going to keep putting it in quotes to underscore that this is terminology I made up). This is a circle of fabric or leather that sits between the ribs and the canopy.

Fabric donut (cotton) on an 1890-1910 parasol.

When made of fabric, it's often (but not always) the same fabric as the canopy.

Donut that is made from some sort of canvas. The canopy
was silk taffeta. The parasol is from 1870-1890.

My guess is that the primary purpose for the "donut" is to protect the canopy from the metal, moving parts of the frame. I've also found that it's sometimes used as an anchor to stitch the canopy to, around the base of the parasol tip.

Remnants of a leather donut on an 1855-1870 parasol.

 Another purpose I've found served by the "donut" is to hide the spring mechanism of pagoda parasols. I've seen one "donut" that had this function that was enormous. This was on a friend's parasol, and unfortunately I don't have a photo.

Vinyl donut on a modern parasol (note the plastic top notch).

The Fox Umbrella Company ("Keeping you dry since 1968") calls this thing an "inside cap". I've also seen it called a rosette, but I like to think of rosettes as gathered, scrunchy rings of fabric, and the "donut" is invariably a flat, circle.

Here is the "donut" I put on the workshop frame:

Reproduction donut made from silk taffeta.

It's the same powder-blue silk taffeta as the canopy. It's a little big for the scale of the frame, but I can't be bothered to do anything about it. Now, fraying is completely historically accurate. But I hate fraying, so this little ring was completely soaked in fray check. Don't hate.

Next: "joint wraps." These are bits of fabric, also commonly the same as the canopy, that are wrapped around the point where the spanner ribs meet the canopy ribs.

Remnants of silk joint wraps on an 1890-1910 frame (this one).

The Fox Umbrella Company calls these "prevents," and, indeed, their purpose appears to be to prevent the canopy from rubbing the metal at the joint. On older frames, where this joint could have some sharp edges, this was probably quite necessary. Newer frames, however, (say, 1875 and later) have pretty clean joints, and I would think the "joint wrap" isn't as necessary. But tradition is hard to overcome, and I have an 1910-ish frame that was refurbished sometime after the invention of nylon and the commercialization of plastic that has vinyl "joint wraps."

Canvas wrap from the 1870-1980 parasol picture above.

I've found that "joint wraps" come in two styles: either a simple oval of fabric, as seen immediately above and below, or a tidily folded bit of fabric, as seen two photos up.

Cotton wrap on the 1890-1910 parasol pictured above.

Loosely and broadly speaking, the folded type of "joint wraps" that I have found are made from silk, because, well, an oval of silk would fray away. Both styles, though, are attached the same way: doubled thread wrapped a few times above the joint and a few times below.

Here are the "joint wraps" on the workshop parasol:

Fold silk taffeta joint wraps.

I've attached them with doubled Gütermann silk thread in a matching color (from ye old big box store), with a simple knot at the first stitch and last.

And that's the end of today's lecture.

I've ambitiously labeled this post "Part 1" because I figure I'll be talking more about the innards of parasols in the future. I just find them so ridiculously interesting, but I'll try to focus my posts on restoration issues. Anyway, I'm done for tonight, but I'll leave you with a teaser of where the workshop parasol is going: