Bound Buttonholes for those who don't like handstitching!

Hey!  Okay, here's a fairly pleasing buttonhole, I think.  I made it using both Gertie's hints and some ideas from Sherry, at Pattern Scissors Cloth.  Before you read my modifications, check out Sherry's notes on bound buttonholes; my notes will make more sense.  Check out Gertie's excellent tutorial, too, but you have to pay for her lesson on Craftsy, part of the Starlet Suit class.  


I don't like hand-stitching & never feel it's as secure as machine stitching, so this post is about some changes I made.  

Basted lines for start/stop & placement

I did use Sherry's suggestion to draw straight lines for where the buttonholes should start & stop, then basting over those lines w/ contrasting thread.  I also drew, then basted, horizontal lines to show where the bottom of each buttonhole would be.  I did this after I had ironed on the interfacing, so the basting would come out easier.  And you should rip out the basting lines before you begin sewing the buttonholes "lips" into place on the right side.  


I used almost the smallest stitch I have on my machine (mine goes to .8, and I used 1.0, but I have no idea what that means in #stitches/inch).  I found that anything larger seemed to pull at the corners & didn't look as neat.  


Some other changes I came up w/ after playing & playing & playing with bound buttonholes (I made 12 practice ones after all!)...

1. Press the narrow sides away from the hole

1. I steamed & pressed the side pieces (narrow part) away from the hole, once I'd made the cut through both pieces of fabric. I just felt like it was in the way for the next part.  This is also a good chance to make sure you didn't cut into the stitching...if you did (I did!), you can turn the binding back through the hole & re-stitch with your machine to prevent fraying.  I'm even wondering if it would be better to stitch with contrasting thread? Then you can see where to stop when you're clipping the holes.  

2. Steamed, ready for machine-stitching

2. I did not manipulate the little mouth pieces that fill the gaps by hand, then tack them down w/ a hand-sewn back-stitch. Instead, I fiddled until they looked nice, then steamed them, so they'd stay put, then I used a very tiny machine stitch to stitch in the ditch. 


I found that with the weave of the fabric, it wouldn't bend that well & stay put with just pins & my fingers.  So I pinned & manipulated & steamed really well to keep everything in place for the next part.  

3. Machine stitched & finished!

3. The next photo shows a buttonhole after I sewed it with very tiny machine stitching.  I admit that the stitching shows, if you look very closely, but this was easier & feels sturdier to me.  


I did everything else pretty much as Gertie & Sherry recommend.  

5 bound buttonholes, all in a row!

I put in 5 buttonholes, as you can see in the last photo.  I like odd numbers; think they look better, and I really wanted one button right at the bustline...


Remember, you can always click on the photos to see the original, larger size. 

Some Starlet Suit Techniques!

I'm learning lots of new, fun stuff in my Starlet Suit class, so I thought I'd share.  I'm definitely no expert, but I'm enjoying learning about stuff that I may or may not decide to use again.

First, tailor's tacks.  Little bits of thread to mark stuff, especially useful when chalk doesn't show (your fabric is too nubby), or you are afraid of ruining the fabric (silk, perhaps).  Here are some marks for buttonholes I made on the front of the jacket, in the next step I did some thread-cutting to get the pieces of fabric away from each other & the pattern piece.

Second, here's attempt #1 at bound buttonholes.  This is definitely a practice run--there is no way I'd try this on the actual fabric on the first try.  I'm not very good at hand-work, due to a lack of patience & short attention span, so it will take me more than a few tries to get buttonholes that I'd be willing to wear in public!  I am going to give Gretchen's a few more tries, but also want to try Sherry's method.  Anyway, the photo shows the attempt, plus the little clippers/scissors I used.  Gretchen mentions another style, but I think these are pretty strong, so will try them a few more times to avoid buying yet another piece of equipment for this project!

And this is attempt #2 at a bound buttonhole.  (I am using non-matching thread just so I can see what I'm doing.)  This is actually a bit over-sized, just to play with.  It looks better, but it rather uneven (one "lip" is wider).  So now I'll try a few after I figure out what the correct size should be.  I figure if I get 3 in a row that look nice I'm ready to start on the actual jacket front!  

And attempt #3 is below.  I tried laying the "binding" fabric crossways...which didn't work, the grain & thickness of the fabric conspired to make it impossible to fold neatly.  Yikes.  This is why I'm making all these test runs--so my ideas get tried out before they matter.  You can also see that I didn't quite measure right for the size of the buttonholes.

Finally, I just want you to look at this stenciled floor my teacher, Gretchen did for her brand-new sewing room.  Amazalujah!  We've got hardwood throughout our house, all in very good condition, so I won't be trying this, but I almost wish I had a big stain or something because I'd love to do something like this somewhere...oops, I'd better be careful what I wish for.