Buttons made from seashell were used by the Indus Valley Civilization for ornamental purposes by 2000 BC.[5] Some buttons were carved into geometric shapes and were pierced so that they could be attached to clothing with thread.[5] Ian McNeil (1990) holds that "the button was originally used more as an ornament than as a fastening, the earliest known being found at Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley. It is made of a curved shell and is about 5000 years old."[6]
Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty left behind ornate wig covers, fabricated through sewing buttons formed of precious metals onto strips of backing material.[7]
Leatherwork from the Roman Empire incorporates some of the first buttonholes, with the legionary's loculus closed through the insertion of a metallic buckle, or button into a leather slit. A similar mechanism would later feature in early medieval footwear.[8]
Buttons appeared as a means to close cuffs in the Byzantine Empire and to fasten the necks of Egyptian tunics by no later than the 5th century.[9]
Since at least the seventeenth century, when box-like metal buttons were constructed especially for the purpose,[10] buttons have been one of the items in which drugsmugglers have attempted to hide and transport illegal substances. At least one modern smuggler has tried to use this method.[11]
Because buttons have been manufactured from almost every possible material, both natural and synthetic, and combinations of both, the history of the material composition of buttons reflects the timeline of materials technology.
Nowadays, hard plastic, seashell, metals, and wood are the most common materials used in button-making; the others tending to be used only in premium or antique apparel, or found in collections.
Three plastic sew-through buttons (left) and one shank, fabric-covered button (right)
Flat or sew-through buttons have holes through which thread is sewn to attach the button.[24] Flat buttons may be attached by sewing machine rather than by hand and may be used with heavy fabrics by working a thread shank to extend the height of the button above the fabric.
An assorti of shank buttons
Shank buttons have a hollow protrusion on the back through which thread is sewn to attach the button.[25] Button shanks may be made from a separate piece of the same or a different substance as the button itself, and added to the back of the button, or be carved or moulded directly onto the back of the button, in which latter case the button is referred to by collectors as having a 'self-shank'.
Plastic studs for bedclothesShirt studs
Stud buttons (also push-through buttons or just studs) are composed from an actual button, connected to a second, button-like element by a narrow metal or plastic bar. Pushed through two opposing holes within what is meant to be kept together, the actual button and its counterpart press it together, keeping it joined. Popular examples of such buttons are shirt studs and cufflinks.
Snap fasteners (also pressure buttons or press studs) are metal (usually brass) round discs pinched through the fabric. They are often found on clothing, in particular on denim pieces such as pants and jackets. They are more securely fastened to the material. As they rely on a metal rivet attached securely to the fabric, pressure buttons are difficult to remove without compromising the fabric's integrity. They are made of two couples: the male stud couple and the female stud couple. Each couple has one front (or top) and rear (or bottom) side (the fabric goes in the middle).
Illustration from 1908 Chambers's Twentieth Century. Toggle, n. (naut.) a short bar of wood, tapering from the middle towards each end, placed in an eye at the end of a rope, to keep the end from passing through a loop or knot.
Toggles are stick-like, with a cord attached at the center. They are passed endways through a hole and then rotated sideways.
Magnetic buttons, as the name implies, are buttons that attach to each other by being magnetic.[26] The buttons can be attached either by sewing or snapping them into the fabric.
Covered buttons are fabric-covered forms with a separate back piece that secures the fabric over the knob.
Mandarin buttonsorfrogs are knobs made of intricately knotted strings. Mandarin buttons are a key element in Mandarin dress (Qi Pao and cheongsaminChinese), where they are closed with loops. Pairs of mandarin buttons worn as cuff links are called silk knots.
Worked or cloth buttons are created by embroideringorcrocheting tight stitches (usually with linenthread) over a knob or ring called a form. Dorset buttons, handmade from the 17th century to 1750, and Death head buttons are of this type.
The size of the button depends on its use. Shirt buttons are generally small, and spaced close together, whereas coat buttons are larger and spaced further apart. Buttons are commonly measured in lignes (also called lines and abbreviated L), with 40 lines equal to 1 inch.[27] For example, some standard sizes of buttons are 16 lignes (10.16 mm, standard buttons of men's shirts) and 32 lignes (20.32 mm, typical button on suit jackets).[28]
Hammond Turner & Sons, a button-making company in Birmingham, hosts an online museum with an image gallery and historical button-related articles,[34] including an 1852 article on button-making by Charles Dickens.[35] In the US, large button collections are on public display at the Waterbury Button Museum of Waterbury, Connecticut,[36] the Keep Homestead Museum of Monson, Massachusetts,[37] which also hosts an extensive button archive,[38] and in Gurnee, Illinois, at The Button Room.[39]
Classic clothing has the button on the left side for women and on the right side for men. The reasons for this are unclear, but the choice for men's clothing is usually attributed to the need to draw weapons from the left to right; the weapon would then not catch on opening of the clothing. For women's clothing the common reason given is that in times when upper-class women's clothing was quite elaborate, servants were needed for dressing, and the left placement of the buttons was more convenient for right-handed maids.[40][41][42] Some Jews reverse this, following statements in the Torah that favor dressing first on the right side, or from the Kabbalah, in which the right side denotes goodness.[43][44][45][46]
The mainly American tradition of politically significant clothing buttons appears to have begun with the first presidential inaugurationofGeorge Washington in 1789. Known to collectors as "Washington Inaugurals",[47] they were made of copper, brassorSheffield plate, in large sizes for coats and smaller sizes for breeches.[48] Made in twenty-two patterns and hand-stamped, they are now extremely valuable cultural artifacts.
Between about 1840 and 1916, clothing buttons were used in American political campaigns, and still exist in collections today. Initially, these buttons were predominantly made of brass (though horn and rubber buttons with stamped or moulded designs also exist) and had loop shanks. Around 1860 the badge or pin-back style of construction, which replaced the shanks with long pins, probably for use on lapels and ties, began to appear.[49]
One common practice that survived until recent times on campaign buttons and badges was to include the image of George Washington with that of the candidate in question.
Some of the most famous campaign buttons are those made for Abraham Lincoln. Memorial buttons commemorating Lincoln's inaugurations and other life events, including his birth and death, were also made, and are also considered highly collectible.[50]
^ abHesse, Rayner W. & Hesse (Jr.), Rayner W. (2007). Jewelrymaking Through History: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. 35. ISBN0-313-33507-9.
^McNeil, Ian (1990). An encyclopaedia of the history of technology. Taylor & Francis. 852. ISBN0-415-01306-2.
^Australian Government (12 November 2009). "heroin concealed in dress buttons". Australia: Customs and Border Protection Communication and Media. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
^Peach State Button Club (2010). "Studios (Section 23-11)". Button Country. Georgia, USA: Peach State Button Club. Archived from the original on 6 June 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
^The United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Paper and Stationery Trade of the World, Government Printing Office, 1918
Edwards, Nina (2012) (2012). On the Button: The Significance of an Ordinary Item. London, UK: I. B. Tauris. ISBN978-1-84885-584-7. ASIN1848855842.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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