Philip Astley created what is considered the first circus in England in 1768. He also created the first circus clown act called Billy Buttons, or the Tailor's Ride to Brentford.
The topical act was based on a popular tale of a tailor, an inept equestrian, trying to ride a horse to Brentford to vote in an election. Astley impersonated the tailor attempting to ride the horse.
First he had tremendous difficulty mounting correctly, and then when he finally succeeded, the horse started off so fast that he fell off.
As the circus grew and Astley hired other clowns, he required them to learn Billy Buttons. It soon became a traditional part of every circus for 100 years.
- This design is available for the 4" x 4" hoop.
- The sewn out size is 2.30" W x 3.82" H with 13,052 stitches.
- This design has 14 thread colors.
- This design is also available in our Circus Clowns set.
You must have an embroidery machine to utilize our machine embroidery designs. We sell machine embroidery designs as electronic media (software) only. We do not sell embroidered "patches" or hard copy patterns.
