YORKSHIRE Buttons

ScrapHappy October 2025

by Jan

In recent months I've been getting to grips with making different sorts of beautiful woven buttons - some that pre-date those plastic discs with two or holes in that we use every day. They are a great way of using up yarn or embroidery thread scraps - for many of them you only need a couple of meters.

I learned to make Dorset buttons during the very first lockdown in 2020, but it wasn't until relatively recently that I've been playing around with some different designs, as described in July's ScrapHappy post.

I've now progressed on to Yorkshire buttons, which are made on a little circular loom that looks like a cog wheel. These don't have the long history of Dorset buttons, but they share many characteristics, mainly differing in the fact that they don't include a ring.

They are worked by wrapping the thread around the teeth of the cog to form spokes, then weaving in and out of these to make a disc. The weaving is then removed, a little bit of stuffing inserted and the edge drawn up to create a button. You can use the technique to cover tatty buttons or any sort of disc, such as a washer. Because they require relatively small amounts of thread, they are a great ScrapHappy project.

Yorkshire button making tools

Weaving a Yorkshire button

Buttons and cogs

For both Dorset and Yorkshire buttons, there is a variety of ways you can weave the thread to get different effects, and you can incorporate different colours or add beads. My little brown one was made using just a standard stitch (the rounding back stitch), whilst the pink and green one started with the standard method, but was then worked in a reverse stitch.

Completed Yorkshire button

Small brown Yorkshire button

Two Yorkshire buttons

I think these would be great little buttons to use on a cushion, as they are squishy, so wouldn't be uncomfortable to lean on.

If you are in our area (Lampeter, Ceredigion, UK), and want to learn to make Yorkshire Buttons or Dorset buttons, we have classes planned for 2026. We have a Dorset Buttons class on Friday 13 February 2026 (book here) and a Yorkshire Buttons class on Friday 20 February 2026 (book here).

-oOo-

Here at The Snail of Happiness, we love using up scraps - ours and other people's! If you want some further inspiration, then take a look at some of these people who, on the 15th of each month, share their ScrapHappy activities: Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti, Viv, Karrin, Alissa, Hannah and Maggie