Piece "G" - Modern/Buttons

History of Buttons

The first known button used about 5000 years ago, was made of shell. Buttons were originally used as a single embellishment or decoration on a closure, not in straight rows as we know today. Bone, horn, bronze, wood or woven leather were used to adorn the closure which was often knotted, pinned or buckled into place, but the button was still more decorative than functional. Functional button holes developed in the 1200’s.

The ornament became more prominent in the Middle Ages with closer fitting clothes – used to accentuate design and body lines. They attached via shank, leaving the front face free for decoration, carving, polishing and painting. A button-maker’s guild was first established in France in 1250. A sign of wealth, a button could sometimes be used to pay off a debt by plucking it from one’s attire.

After the Renaissance “habitat” buttons developed with dried flowers, hair cuttings or insects under glass. Miniature painting of elaborate scenes was common. Political buttons started to be used at George Washington’s presidential inauguration.  Box-like buttons have commonly been used to smuggle drugs, hide jewels, and contain miniature compasses.

Poorer folks made buttons for the wealthy, pouring molten lead or pewter into button moulds. Once set they could be covered in fabric or other embellishments. Circa 1800, with the Industrial Revolution, the button moulder’s laborious task became automated - steel dies were engraved into the shape of the day’s fashion, coverings were stamped out and 4 holes and a countersunk recess were stamped into the button centre giving us the typical profile we know of for a man’s dress shirt.

With the proliferation of buttons made by machines, even more were used to adorn clothing. They became smaller and spaced closer together spawning the need for buttonhooks in the 1850’s to aid in the closing of buttons through tight openings or loops. China, glass, vegetable ivory, celluloid, bakelite, and lucite materials were all used as button making developed from the early 1800s through the early 1900’s. Go to https://hobbylark.com/collecting/Vintage-Button-Guide-Ways-to-Indentify-Antique-Buttons to help identify vintage buttons.

It seems that with their association of dressing and undressing, opening and closing clothing near private parts of the body, their accentuation of body lines, buttons have become the subject of double entendre in everyday language. “Pressing one’s buttons”, “He’s all buttoned up”. On electrical devices, flat faced buttons are used to complete a circuit and Steve Jobs said the buttons on Apple’s touchscreens look so good “you’ll want to lick them”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is Modern Quilting?  (From Modern Quilt Guild website)

 

Quote: "Modern quilts are primarily functional and inspired by modern design. Modern quilters work in different styles and define modern quilting in different ways, but several characteristics often appear which may help identify a modern. These include, but are not limited to: the use of bold colours and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space and alternate grid work. "Modern traditionalism" or the updating of classic quilt designs is also often seen in modern quilting.

Modern quilting has existed in many forms for much of the 20th century. It wasn't until the 2000's that quilts with a modern aesthetic began to appear in greater numbers and quilters began to describe themselves as modern.

A defining event occurred in 1998 when Martha Stewart Living featured Denyse Schmidt, calling  her quilts a "chic, modernist aesthetic". For many quilters in the early days of the movement, this was a key inspirational moment.

The growth of the movement was facilitated by four factors: the cultural shift of quality design being recognized by the general public, affordable digital cameras, the changing fabric industry and the rise of social media.

In 2002, the Quilts of Gee's Bend exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the publication of Yoshiko Jinzenji's book Quilt Artistry, further provided inspiration to a small but devoted group of modernist minded quilters.

Two influential books were published in 2005, Denyse Schmidt Quilts and the Modern Quilt Workshop by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. The first online quilt alongs were established on blogs around these two books and awareness continued to increase in the online world.

The Flickr group Fresh Modern Quilts, established in 2008, provided the first online centralized social media venue for quilters in the movement. With that flickr group and many active blogs, the online world of modern quilting took off like wildfire.

In 2009 Alissa Haight Carlton and Latifah Saafir founded the Modern Quilt Guild giving the online community a chance to form in person connections with other modern quilters.