How to make a buttonhole, post 516

 In the days of my grandmother, my paternal grandmother who was a seamstress, you would sew buttonholes by hand. How?

How to make a Buttonhole by Hand

You start by drawing a line in pencil or with tailor's chalk. What is tailor's chalk? 

Tailor's Chalk

A tailor's chalk looks solid, like coloured pencil lead. It doesn't crumble like blackboard chalk. The tailor's chalk is a contrasting colour, but washes out easily.

Another name for tailor's chalk is French chalk.


From Wikipedia.

An alternative in a washable felt tip pen. Check it really washes out on another scrap of fabric or the back inside hem  or half way up an inside side hem, anywhere which won't show.

Stitches

To stop the button hole from fraying, you sew several parallel lines of one long stitch across both ends of the slit. These lines must be close together. That conceals the end and prevents the fabric pulling apart each time you use the buttonhole to fasten or unfasten the button. 

Then you sew up the two long sides of the buttonhole. You use button hole stitch. But the verticals running perpendicular to the slit must be of even length and close together, creating an even effect. Before doing this for the first time, or after a long break from sewing or sewing buttonholes, practise on a spare piece of fabric. 

Sewing Machine Buttoholer

If you have a sewing machine, check to see if you have a buttonhole attachment. Or if you can buy one. I bought a set of attachments for a Singer sewing machine. I only wanted the buttonholer, but the seller had a complete set of attachments. As the machine was old and I would likely never see a set o attachments again, I bought them. 

So, what do you do with your buttonholer. After admiring it. Or hiding from it. 

You clip it on, screw it on, fix it on over a needle. It is basically a metal stencil which your screw on, a guide to sewing a straight line,within and oblong.  But not beyond a certain length. 

You might have to set your machine to two kinds of stitch, the longer stitch at the two ends of the buttonhole, and the closed up zig zag along the two long sides. The later models of machines have more expensive but simpler buttonholers, two step instead of four step, requiring less fiddling around and changing direction. 

My dream is to have a machine which just makes the whole buttonhole automatically. Second best would be  live in maid who knows how to use a sewing machine or is the practical type willing to learn anything.

Just look at any button hole, or several. You will see how buttonholes are created and sewn up securely.

For years I was afraid of using a buttonhole attachment, or any attachment.

If you are confident and want to try something fancy, try keyhole buttonholes.


Or leave the buttonholes visible.

Make them a feature, with contrasting cotton.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttonhole

Machine maker brands

Please bookmark, follow this blog and share links to your favourite posts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to repair a torn Mark & Spencer slip and make the hem wider, Post 294

Image
What is this? My repair.  I have a lovely shiny, smart black slip, from Marks & Spencers. It has a slit with pretty lace edging.  But it is slightly tight. It tore from the top of the slit, diagonally.  I looked for another slip. The ones I found onlin were twice the price and not in a satiny fabric. I wore it torn. I repaired it several times. It tore again.  I gave up. I wore it torn. Nobody sees. My husband saw. He complained. What could I do? It is useless to keep stitching it. It just tears again. I needed a new solution. I thought of adding a godet, a triangle of black fabric. I did not have anything to match. tht doesn't matter a godet is often a contrasting material. But that's when you have several godets and they look deliberate. I hunted in my sewing box. Boxes. All I had was teeny scraps of cloth in unsuitable fabrics. And ribbons. I thought about what I could do with the ribbons. They were not wide enough. But I could sew one each side of the slit. t...
Read more

Blue H & M Dress, dress of the day 393

Image
  Angela Lansbury wearing a blue background dress from H &M. Photo by Trevor Sharot. The Blue H & M Dress Blue background dress has a white pattern. Blues are hard to match. But I had a white blouse, so I wore this. On the internet and on Facebook you can see lots of videos of how to tie a scarf, but mine is simply hanging, which partly obscures the cleavage.  Cleavage cover I had a choice. To insert a dickey or false front, also called a removable or detachable collar. I have one or two which are plain white.  The alternative which saves hunting for a matching dickey without distracting collar colours and embrodiery, is simply to add a fastening. I decided that a snap or press stud fastener in small size is qhich to fasten and unlikely to pull apart (as opposed to hook and eye. I like velcro but it can scratch your skin, so the press stud was the right andwer. You have to get the two sides exactly measured up from the point of the V neck otherwide you end up with...
Read more

Period Pants from Marks & Spencer & More, post 345

Image
Period pants from Savida. Pants, UK. In the USA they would be called underpants. They come in two colours, black or dark blue with a mottled effect. They are triple layer. Could be useful for hiking and travelling. Or when you have a cough.  A pack of three full briefs for fifteen pounds. I then googled period pants and found lots of results.  Marks Marks & Spencer do a pack of three containing three different colours, black, white and pink, for sixteen pounds.  They also do different absorbencies. The options range though light, heavy, and extra heavy. And more styles, such as pantaloon style, like short tight shorts coming half way down your thighs. You can also buy leakproof swimwear with the brand name WUKA. Wikipedia has useful worldwide reviews of practices. Wiki picture. Useful search words (alphabetically):  A-D absorbent, absorbency adult diapers briefs,  cloth menstrual pads diapers E-K full briefs,  heavy absorbency,  heavy flow,  i...
Read more