Button, button, who's got the button?

Button, button, who's got the button?  Yesterday, as she watched the re-enactor at Plymouth Plantation making buttons from cloth, Marash Girl remembered playing that button game during the rainy days of childhood.  

Marash Girl used to sew, and used to sew buttons onto cloth, but she never knew that you could make buttons out of cloth.  Even before she started sewing buttons, one of her favorite past times was  sorting through her mom's big fat button bottle, treating those beautiful creations, buttons they were called, with reverence.  

Rarely was there a match . . .  large mother of pearl buttons, tiny pressed metal buttons, wonderful shapes, colors, textures,  buttons with two holes,  buttons with three holes (yes, three holed buttons), buttons with four holes. . .  But she never found a cloth button with no holes!  Of course, she wouldn't have known it was a button; it would have looked like a tiny ball of cloth, for this is how they made buttons in the 1600's on Plimoth Plantation:  

1.  Cut a piece of roughly woven cloth into a 1 inch square (or any cloth that would match the clothing that needs buttons).

2.  Tuck the edges of the cloth into the center, forming a smooth ball on one side, with all the cut edges tucked together to one point on the other side; with a needle and thread matching the color of the material.

3.  Sew all those edges together at the center and knot the thread.  That's the back of the button.  And your button is complete!  

No, you don't have to buy a mold for the button.  Just the cloth, a needle and thread, and, for comfort, a thimble.   

When to stop? Keep making buttons until you have enough, or even more!