Button Crafting - Making Historic Buttons - Retford Library - Adult Learning

Retford Library, Retford

Date	15 - 29 November 2025
Sessions	Saturdays: 1pm - 3pm
No. sessions	3
Venue	Retford Library, Retford View venue details
For ages	19+
Group size	5 - 15
Cost	FREE - £24

About this course

Before buttons were mass produced, many clothes were adorned with beautiful, woven buttons (in the 17th and 18th Centuries). On this Course you will look at historical examples of buttons and how the techniques used in these old buttons from 1700’s and 1800’s can be re-created with modern threads to make striking brooches to wear or gift.

What you will need to bring to the course:

Twisted (non-divisibility) mercer pearl Embroidery thread (such as Anchor or DMC No 8)

Circle Mount (this can be mdf disc) - if not able to get – the tutor will have card or reclaim disc to be used)

Brass ring or Curtain Ring for Ring Button

At least 2 skeins of embroidery cotton

(kits available via www.ginabsilkworks.co.uk )

Booking your place and fee information

If you receive certain benefits you will be offered the course for free, however if you have a financial barrier which may prevent you from enrolling on the course, please visit our funding page for further information.

Residency in England

To book and enrol on one of our courses, you must be living in England permanently and live outside of the devolved areas listed below or live within the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) devolved area (Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire).

Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
Greater London
Greater Manchester
Liverpool City Region
Newcastle Upon Tyne, North Tyneside and Northumberland
Tees Valley
West of England
West Midlands
West Yorkshire

Residency Eligibility – other criteria

If you are living in the UK on a visa we will require evidence of this in order to be funded for the course, you can upload this evidence when you apply for the course. (completion of a questionnaire will be required).

Some exceptions may apply for example

Your visa expiry date must be beyond the end of your course
Asylum seekers must have lived in the UK for 6 months or longer while their claim is being considered by the Home Office
You are receiving local authority support under section 23C or section 23CA of the Children Act 1989 or the Care Act 2014

Any learner who is not funded full cost fees would apply to these courses.