Ysolda and I have been pursuing our craft tour with gusto. It now appears to be extending out from Edinburgh in several directions. The other day, we traveled a bit further than usual on the East Coast Mainline, and hopped on a train to York. York is one of my old stomping grounds, and there are many reasons to visit. It is a great compact city in which you can literally walk through a whole millennium, admiring fine examples of British architecture from the Roman to the Victorian. It is home to one of the most important Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe. And the light in York is always particularly beautiful — something about the flatness of the landscape and the soft colours of the stone. None of this interested us, however. We went to York for buttons.
In York, Duttons for Buttons is something of a local institution, and, if you ask me, it deserves to be a national one as well. For Duttons is so much more than a well-stocked haberdashers with friendly, knowledgeable staff, selling an excellent range of needlecraft and dressmaking supplies and notions. Duttons is, in fact, the spiritual home of the button, a palace, a shrine, a hymn to that tiny and miraculous combination of decorative form and function . . .
Duttons!
For Buttons!
Buttons exemplify the appeal of the numinous and miniature. They are ordinary things, neither jewels nor sweeties, but there is still something precious, sensuous, near-edible about them. And, unlike jewel-things, buttons have an important functional point to make. If fabric is the language, then buttons are the grammar of our clothing — openings, pauses, closings — as well the decorative accent of any outfit.
We all know the singular pleasure of poking around in a button box — the delight of handling, arranging, and admiring lovely button-things. Now imagine that box-sized pleasure magnified to the size of a shop, and you have some sense of just how great it is to be in Duttons. There is the satisfying knowledge that you have over 12,000 kinds of buttons to play with and choose from. Then there is the space of Duttons itself, with its medieval beams and wobbly floor. The shop fittings have stayed the same for forty years or more — the buttons are displayed, floor-to-ceiling, in worn, compartmentalised cardboard boxes, which you can examine on pleasing tables that pull out from the button-wall.
The sheer range of Duttons buttons is frankly amazing. There is glass and acrylic, wood and cloisonné, in an incredible array of sizes, styles and hues. And what makes some of this stock so precious, is that so much of it is discontinued. Many of the buttons sold here have their stylistic origins in the 40s and 50s and are literally at the end of the line. The nine buttons you buy for your coat or cardigan might be the last few available anywhere. Superlatives really cannot capture the sheer wonder that is Duttons. If you are lucky enough to live in West or North Yorkshire, you will also find branches in Ilkley and Harrogate.
Here are some of my spoils.
so tasty.
Oh, and by the way, York is brilliant for many crafty things other than buttons. These include Betty’s . . .
(the mere phrase ‘selection of miniature cakes’ on the menu made me stupidly gleeful)
. . . and of course, beer
. . . the subject of other posts.
And just a quick a note about the owlet – - I was very interested in your comments, and in Franklin Habit’s remarks about the same issue, to which Lucette linked. After reading both, I was filled with a militant desire to chat to mums in the street, and ask their kids to wear my sweater. Over the past few days I’ve tried this with mixed results. Unlike Franklin, the problem I discovered was not the attitude of the parents to the weird-sweater-brandishing-person (all were interested, most were helpful) but simply the age and size of the kids on offer — I’ve just not been able to find any 1 year olds! In Duttons, for example, I got chatting to a lovely mum with an equally lovely toddler, but when we matched kid up to sweater the latter turned out to be much too small. And just when I was beginning to think that, since toddlers seem to be clearly the most numerous, or at least the most publicly available size of kid, I’d better just knit another sweater, I received an email from a someone and her just-one-year-old who may well turn out to be my owlsend. Hurrah! More soon.
Your posts make me want to hop on a plane! Buttons and Beer, a great day. Duttons sounds amazing – the buttons are gorgeous (I’m a vintage button collector myself :-)) – we have a spot here in Boston called Windsor Button that’s fun, but I’m thinking Duttons has it beat.
the buttons are awesome! i don’t know how you could even begin to choose between all of those. And is Ysolda really go to drink all those pints by herself?
We moved to Ilkley when I was 9, I’ve always loved Duttons for Buttons and Betty’s. Haven’t been to York in years, except to change trains, really must pay another visit.
“If fabric is the language, then buttons are the grammar of our clothing — openings, pauses, closings — as well the decorative accent of any outfit.”
As a wanna-be linguist (potential Ph.D. minor on the horizon!), this made me so happy. I’m going to go around all day extending this metaphor to cut, fit, weave, color, other forms of closing and every other feature that I can link up to a linguistic one.
It’s funny that babycocktails was first commenter, I was going to email her a link to this post as she often posts about buttons on her blog (in with her other knitting content).
I spent many a happy school trip in York – beautiful place. I love the cathedral. (I grew up in South Shields, for my sins!, so it was pretty accessible. That and Beamish, of course.). Nice to be reminded of such a great city :0)
I love the beer picture too ;0]
I just had a thought; you must have toddler or baby groups where should be kids of all ages and sizes (sounds like a supermarket ad, huh?) and most importantly under 3 years old. Maybe you could try that?
I love York too, will check out Betty’s next time I am there!
Your craft tour of Edinburgh and connected places sounds like the absolute business. You know this is just my kind of thing…
…and now you realise that we must include a trip to York in our ambitious Northern travelling plans! BUTTONS!!!!
O how I love BUTTONS…
Dutton’s looks like a wonderful place. There is an amazing, similar store in Boston called Windsor Button. They have a giant button wall, with every kind you can imagine, and the lovely staff will help you choose, no matter how long it takes. I miss it so much.
Swooning at the buttons. Next time I visit my brother in Yorkshire, I must get over to York. If you’re ever down in Bristol, I can take you to an amazingly strange little button shop.
I’d be so giddy from all those buttons that I think I’d need just a half pint!……love your photos….makes me want to just hop on the train too…alas not possible!
Hopefully you’ve solved your baby dilemma by now, but if you haven’t, here’s a thought;
Babies around that age LOVE mylar helium balloons. Go get a nice, shiny balloon (maybe a “Happy Birthday” one or something like that) and carry it around as baby bait. You are quite sure to attract the notice of a suitable baby. And a lot of other people, too, but never mind about that.
Thanks for the wonderful virtual tour of Duttons… for Buttons! I almost felt as though I was there. Your button photos are beautiful (and I’m a sucker for anything arranged by colour).
Your unbridled enthusiasm for buttons has me remembering a friend who spent a tidy sum to buy a button collection from a tiny shop in NJ that was closing its doors. She’s never regretted it once!
Kate! No! What did I say earlier today on the other post? No more distractions! Now I desperately want to go to York, but train fares are ridiculous! And I don’t have time, really. Edin next week, and poss Dundee for half a day are def stretching it…
Gorgeous buttons. And yes – are those pints ALL for Ysolda?
Oh buttons – I’m excited to go through my haul tomorrow, especially to unearth the hidden treasures of the mystery bags.
Those ‘pints’ are halves and Kate drank 2 of them – the reason for ordering 4 halves instead of 2 pints was to test them.
Erm, yes – the idea was a Yorkshire ale sampler, not a one- woman session…
totally off topic but awfully nice jumper the knitting teacher is wearing in this video!
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4917058n
A super post- although it did send me to the dictionary to look up numinous – so I’ve learned something new today!
The button shop would have held me for hours, wonderful!
Button heaven! You chose some lovely pieces to bring home.
a thought just flitted through my brain (you have to make allowances, I’m pregnant and sometimes thinking at all is beyond me) anyway, it was this – knit patterns for children are usually given in 6 month increments up to about age 2, and then in 1 year increments thereafter. so I was wunderin what sizes you are planning for your owlet sweater – i’d probably be a bit reluctant to knit something which was too specifically sized just because there’s an awful lot of variation between children (witness my comment before about my 26 month old and a friends’ 20 month old being the same size!) and knitting something which is sized as 12-18 or 18-24 months seems a bit safer somehow…
re: earlier comment about baby & toddler groups – this would be a good way of finding lots of mums and variously sized children in one place at one time. my son goes to a nice group (with his granny) on weds mornings at the reid memorial church hall (nr blackford hill) between 10 and 11.30 – but there are lots and lots of these around – look on church/library noticeboards for details!… a nice woman called Kate helps to run the reid memorial group and her daughter might be about the right age for you….
Oh you’ve reminded me I’m overdue a visit to Duttons (and York in general, now I’ve found out they sell some very lovely lollipops at York Minster too – I chased up the company to find the most local stockist).
Man I could have used that button store recently. I was on the hunt for aqua colored buttons for my Garter Yoke Cardigan but can’t find what I am looking for anywhere! Ack! I had to settle for some that I deem less than perfect. *sigh*
Oh, and by the way, I received your package. Thank you so much! I love all of it! The cute bag! The post-its! The stickers! All so frickin cute. Thanks a bunch!
Is that the Last Drop Inn? Half pints are definitely the way to go when real ales are on offer! I miss living in York. Though I was a student then so couldn’t really afford to go to Betty’s (unless relatives were visiting) and it generally wasn’t a good idea to go to Duttons either – too much temptation.
I love living in Edinburgh but can never seem to find things here. Boyes and Barnitts are treasure troves and I haven’t yet found the Scottish equivalent.
Anyone know where I can get Kapok (stuffing) in Edinburgh?
oh how i love buttons
and this shop sounds like a nice place.
thank you for transporting me overseas for a little glimpse
my one year old (14 months) would love to model for your owlet if you find yourself in the states however i don’t see that happening….
oh my, what a lovely, lovely, LOVELY hat! which is it? do you mind directing me to the pattern?
thanks much…
What a wonderful store that sounds like! And I love your description of it. I doubt I’ll have the chance, but if it ever did happen that I was in York someday, I’ll have to remember to go find Duttons for Buttons.
We have a wonderful button shop here in Sydney: All Buttons Great and Small. They’re coming up to 20 years in business. But I recently received a gift from Harrogate, which included a card of buttons from Duttons, and they are quite lovely.
shocking behaviour – fancy not mentioning sheepish when on a tour of york! fabulous little wool shop – and the curry place where you can buy bags of spices, put together while you watch, to make your own curry with all the flavour and none of the fuss (i nip to york as often as possible, i loved living there, and will be having a payday shopping spree next saturday, hurrah!)
I saw you in Sheepish and in Duttons that day, it was my birthday :)
sweet buttons!