Making Buttonholes - Making It Easy post 439
My paternal grandfather was a tailor, a master tailor, with a workshop. Not just a tailor who machined the seams and often cut out the pattern. He was the boss of the business, chatted up the customer, showed them the styles, took their measurements. He might employ one or two tailors, younger borthers, or youger members of the family such as nieces and nephews.
His wife, my paternal grandmother, sewed the buttonholes. She could do it by hand, neatly. She was deft. She used to knit, very fast, whilst chatting to friends, looking at the friends, not at the knitting.
Making Buttonholes
If you don't have a machine to make buttonholes, you can sew buttonholes by hand.
Basically, a buttonhole has a slit large enough to take the button easily, without letting it pull out easily while you are wearing it.
My first attempt at a buttonhole, I cut the slit first. You would want to mark the line with a pin or washable pencil or tailor's chalk, doesn't crumble, and which washes out. You oversew tightly up the long sides of the cut. At both ends you sew at right angles to the other sewing, to complete the oblong of sewing, to stop the cut from tearing at the end and to look neat and hold the buttonhole together. When I went to wikihow, I realised this is not what you do. You sew first, cut last - very carefully! You need to cut the fabric but not the stitches either side.
Matching Buttons and Buttonholes
Mostly buttonholes are made with thread matching the garment. With a contrasting colour if you have contrasting colour buttons and want to make a statement and can be sure of making a good buttonhole
Do you want the hole horizontal. To match the other buttonholes. Or vertical?
On Amazon I found cuttonhole cutters, and a set with a soft surface to cut on. A buttonhole mat.
Wikihow
Wikihow has a useful video and lots of tips. You cut the fabric after making your two lines of sewing and the end sections. Useing the blade-end tool, you rock it backwards and forwards.
You can use the seam ripper.
You put two pins or safety pins and the short top and botton of your vertical buttonhole, the right and left edges of a horizontal buttonhole, to be sure you don't cut the end stitches, nor beyond them.
Dimwit's Disasters!
Extra hint - make sure you don't have any other part of your garment folded under the buttonhole whilst cutting. Remember murphy's law - anything which could go wrong will do so
And not whilst sewing either! I have twice sewn a garment by hand, on my lap, then found my sewing was attached to my skirt at the thigh or knee!
Seam Ripper's Second Use
If you don't have a cutton tool, you can use a seam ripper. But you tend to get jagged bits of thread which you need to cut with teeny sharp scissors.
Neck Buttonholes
Sometimes the neck button is larger, a statement piece.
I wanted a neck button hole to fasten my blouse at the neck for warmth in the day and when out travelling in windy or cold weather, Even in summer it can be cold at night in the mountains or by the sea. Or in air conditioned rooms and restaurants.
Dickeys
Or wear a dickey. A dickey is a collar, with a false front, sometimes U-shape, sometimes right across under the shoulders in an oblong aat the front, or both front and back.
Once I started collecting dickeys, I had to buy more and more. A cotton, shirt effect, in white, looked right under contrastin colour woolen sweaters or cotton tee-shirts. However, with a soft and shiny fabric shirt or blouse, you need a shiny dickey. Under a shwl effect blouse, you need a curved collar on the dickey.
Useful Websites
How to do it
https://www.wikihow.com/Cut-Button-Holes
AMAZON
EBAY
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