Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Mary OK: Bound Buttonholes

I have spent the last 3 weeks or so learning how to make bound buttonholes. I looked at the references Marji provided, but found this resource to be the easiest for my fumbly fingers.

Susan Huxley. Sewing Secrets from the Fashion Industry.
Search for bound buttonholes to see the text on pp. 92-94. (I LOVE Amazon's book reader!)

left, buttonhole test for center front
below right, buttonhole test for sleeve vent
buttons from G Street Fabrics, Rockville store



Question: are the cf buttonholes long enough?


Tips:
Use the sharpest marking pencil you can find. I used a plain white Crayola colored pencil to draw the lines on the interfacing.

The directions call for 1" strips of bias or straight fabric. The melton fabric seemed to need a little more for turn of cloth. For the center front buttonholes, I used strips 1 and 1/8" wide. For the sleeve vent, the strips are just a hair over 1 " wide.

Use a fine silk basting thread. The finest thread gives the least room for error. Stitch all basting lines by machine and measure before AND after stitching. Do it over if there is even a hair of difference.

Baste the cut folded edges together to keep them from opening out.

Start stitching from the same end of the buttonhole, for both top and bottom.

Count your stitches! Use the same number of stitches top and bottom for all buttonholes.

Check the back -- Make sure your stitching lines are parallel to each other and absolutely straight. Do over if needed.

When you line up the little triangle to stitch over the lips, center it perfectly over the lips. If you don't, the lips may come out uneven on the front.

2 comments:

Nancy K said...

It looks like you've done a great job learning how to make them! These look excellent.

Marji said...

They look Fabulous! Thanks for the link too.
All good points on marking all the instructions to be as exact as possible.