Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Beautiful Buttonholes

First up
They are nearly finished!
What a week,what a welcome home,5 days of headaches!
Anyhoo,enough whinging from me,lets make some buttonholes and finish these pretty blouse's.
Time to hem.
You may find the need to stretch the hem a little as you sew,thats fine.
You may find it easier to stitch inside the sleeve hem on little items of clothing.
Press all the seams well.
Dampen and roll beneath your fingers to get a smooth seam.
Buttonholes
Choose the buttons.
Line the pattern back up with the neck and finished back of the blouse.


Mark the edges of the button holes with pins.
Wiggle them around to make a wee hole.
Make the holes the width for your buttons!
Mark the holes with chalk.
Pull the pattern aside and mark the line.
Mark all the buttonholes.
I quite like to do a buttonhole 'mock up'. I use two scrap pieces with some interfacing between them to do a few practice buttonholes first.
Often I will do a buttonhole twice over to achieve a good sturdy finish.
Make the buttonholes according to your manual.
Follow the directions,you may be surprised that you are not quite doing them properly.
Give the threads a good tug before cutting them. It helps to lock them in place so that they will less likely unravel.
Press well.
ALWAYS put a pin across the end of the buttonhole before ripping or snipping open.
Place the side with the buttonholes on top of the other side,matching the neck and hem.
Mark the button position through the buttonhole.


Tape the buttons into position.


Using a zigzag set at a narrow stitch length line up the needle with the holes and do a few practice turns with the wheel by hand.
When you are satisfied,gently sew with the foot pedal.
I find the bartack of my buttonhole stitch is the perfect width as a rule!
Sew the buttons one after the other pulling a good length of thread but not actually cutting it,yet.


Snip in the middle of the threads.
Using a pin,pull the threads through from the right side to the back.
Knot the threads from the back.
Trim the ends.
Gently pull the tape off the buttons.
And there are your buttons!
Wasn't that easy?






Done!
NB I usually sew a horizontal buttonhole for the top button to give neck ease and then sew the rest vertically.
Its just quicker and kinder to a slightly uneven hem.
I did them this way to match the pattern in question.
You may choose which ever buttonhole direction you fancy!


As always,thanks for reading,I continue to be humbled by your lovely warm comments.
x N

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful tops! I had a lightbulb moment when you suggested double stitching the buttonholes.:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Cindy,it works well on medium to heavy weight fabric.
    xx N

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just love the gorgeous fabrics! They are Liberty-esque. (Or are they Liberty?) This is such a lovely, classic pattern. It's definitely on my to-buy list (along with the rest of the O+s patterns, of course).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Not Liberty,but certainly Liberty-esque type lawn and lovely to sew.
    This one is a must,up there with the Sketchbook.
    Thanks Inder.
    xx N

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am so copying your way of marking the button holes! Genius! And now I know how to do them with the machine:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you Brittney!
    I am working on an Afterschool top tutorial and it gave me such a kick to link back to my buttonhole tute!
    Small things make me happy!
    xx N

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you, My buttonholes look more like a zigzag around them and I wanted my buttonhole stitches closer together so I like how you sewed around the buttonholes twice. I pull the threads to the back and tie them for the buttonholes, is that unnecessary?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thats a great tip Kim.
    I find a good tug seems to lock them but better safe then sorry.
    x N

    ReplyDelete
  9. I missed this first-time round - thanks for all the tips!

    ReplyDelete