Page 25 - May1954

May, 1954 NATIONAI] BUTTON BULI,ETIN 2t5

A visitor to the Horstmann plant in philadelphia about eighty years
ago gives us an engaging word picture of how molds were being covered
there. "Watch this young person,,' he wrote. ,,She picks up J ,button-
mould,'-a flattish wooden disk, about as large as a nickel cent,-puts it on
the little prong, leads the eDd of a silk thread to it, and whirls a liltle crank.
The button-mould turns deliberately round once, the bright, glossy silk
flies round and round as it turns, and in far less time than we have used
in the description, the wood is completely covered with the shining thread;
the girl snips the silk off, dips out a tiny particle of mucilage from a litile
cup, dexterously gums down the end, picks the button from the prong, puts
it in a basket, and puts on another mould.',
If only this observer had gone on to give us as graphic a description
of the making of a wheel 'We can only imagine the worker turning the
covered mold as her needle flashes in and out with its shining thread.

BOBBIN BUTTONS
Lacking any other term, certain thread and cord covered molds are
being called "Bobbin buttons.', The name seems appropriate not only
because the molds are wound in thread like a bobbin, but also because real
bobbins are used in making them. The distinguishing features of the type
are these: a solid mold, pierced through center, is completely covered with a
wrapping of thread or cord, several layers deep in places. The cover is
vrrapped in such a way that a g:eometric pattern is created on the face while
the back shows no regularity of design and is best described as a ,,jumble
of strings." (See p. 206 samples 1b (1) ).
Bobbins of silk, gold and silver thread will be found among 18th
century passementerie buttons. ones of brighily colored strands will be
found among peasant buttons. ones in black, white and other quiet, single
colors were made for wear on Victorian wraps. These are not, of courie,
the only places to look for them, but only suggested places.
The geometric designs cn bobbin buttons may look quite simple. Charles
Dickens described the workers making them in this way, "severai women sat
round a table, each having a large needle fixed in the table opposite the part
where she was seated-also a bobbin or reel containing the thiead which she
rilas to use. The mould was held by the hole in center upon the needle;
the end of golden or other thread was at the same time put thru the hole
and flxed. The thread was wound over and round every part of the mould
in a peculiar way, so as to present everywhere a surface of thread and also
a determinate pattern according to the fashion of the day. when flnished
the thread was secured and at the back of the buttons, foids of thread were
taken up and tied together, so as to form a shank for flxing the button to
the garment."
One of the "patterns of the day" consisted of a quadrated circle, each
quadrant fllled with parallel threads (see cut.) An old source gives instruc-
tions for covering a mold to produce this pattern. They require, as Dickens
said, that the winding be done in a ,.peculiar," not to say complicated, way.
The instructions are difficult enough to read, let alone follow.
This, is the way they go: "Fi_g, Z is the button just beginning to be covered;
!rE. d rne same rn an advanced stage; and trig.4 is a flnished button, The
tl'read-being fastened at the centre in itre tract<,*(see fG.-ZI-il-tr"uifrt to ttre
circumference on the dotted line 1, and wound dcioss tn6 fiirni ii-sn-own at Z,
ft then passes beh-ind ag_ain, on tha dotteal lines B, anA in fio-nt'ai-l;-icross the
back on the dotted line 5, in front at 6; and passing behind on the liire ?, is laid
in front at 8: makins a comptete. squ_are in-troiit.- ev-cbntiiiu-in-s'lhi" p"ocess,
and layins-the thread's besittri.gach <jttrer, iire-s-quit"l""-ofr"'"-id;;: ;;'ir-Fi;.T;
where the Numbers 9, 19, 11, 12, Ig, L4, 1S, f6, a'g:iin Aenoie-itr?i"pioF"e*s oftfr6