Welcome to part two our Miniature Millinery series on the Mortarboard Cap. If you look at the top of a mortarboard cap, you will see that there is a small fabric covered button attached to the center of the mortarboard. Not only does this button add a modest bit of decoration to the otherwise nondescript top, it also has functional purposes in helping secure the top to the cap AND providing a place to hang the tassel from.
We'll talk more about the tassels next time. Today, we are going to focus on making this cloth covered button.

Normally, I would use a cloth covered button blank to make my cloth covered buttons, however, I moved into a new sewing studio a little while
back and now I can't find my box of button blanks. No worries though, this just gives me an opportunity to show you how to make a cloth covered button from a standard shank or flat button.