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