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How to make A Machine Buttonhole

WHAT IS IT?

Buttonholes are reinforced openings worked in a garment to match up with the buttons. A button on one side ofthe garment slips through a buttonhole on the other to form the closure. There are three main types ofbuttonholes: machine buttonholes, hand-worked buttonholes and bound buttonholes. Machine-sewn buttonholesare the fastest and easiest. Hand-worked buttonholes are the slowest and require the most practice to sewsuccessfully. Bound buttonholes (page link) require a lot of sewing steps but are professional and durable.Buttonholes can be intimidating because they’re usually the last thing you sew on your project. With a littlepractice, you can conquer the fear of buttonholes and make beautiful buttoned closures on your projects.

WHEN DO YOU USE IT?

Anytime you want to add functioning button and buttonholeclosures to a garment, you’ll need to make buttonholes.Even if the button is nonfunctional, you may want to sewbuttonholes underneath the button so it looks moreauthentic. Buttons and buttonholes are seen on blouses,down the front of the placket and on the cuffs of longsleeves. They’re used on the center front of coats, jacketsand suits and at the waistband opening on skirts andtrousers. They’re used to close and secure pockets, flaps,tabs and epaulets. Buttonholes are used when there is an overlap at the opening so that the layers can crossover. (For more on button overlap, see page link.)

HOW BIG SHOULD A BUTTONHOLE BE?

How do you decide how big to make your buttonhole if the buttonholes are not marked or if you’re changing thesize of the button? The buttonhole size is about the width of the button plus 1⁄8″ (3mm) for flat buttons. Forrounded or textured buttons, it’s the width plus the height. Here’s an easy way to figure it out: Wrap a tapemeasure around the button and divide this measurement in half.

BUTTONHOLE POSITION

Horizontal buttonholes are the best as they are the most secure. The buttons are least likely to escape, and thebuttonhole is strong on the grain of the fabric.

For narrow bands and plackets, position buttonholes vertically so they can fit on the band.

Diagonal buttonholes look neat, but they will stretch out on the bias. However, if you are sewing buttonholes on abias garment (page link), positioning them diagonally is a good idea because they’ll be on the straight grain.

HOW TO MAKE A MACHINE BUTTONHOLE

Once you’ve marked the buttonhole placement and determined the length of the buttonhole, it’s time to sew it. Allmachines are set up slightly different, so take a look at the section on buttonholes in the manual for your sewingmachine. Many machines, like mine, have a one-step buttonhole that will sew down the length of the buttonhole,make a few long tacks at the end and then sew in reverse up the other side of the buttonhole. Once it’s set inplace, all you need to do is keep your foot on the pedal!

Change the foot and adjust the settings for sewing the buttonhole. Make a practice buttonhole on scrap fabricusing the same material as your project. If the buttonhole area is interfaced, interface your scrap fabric as well. Itwill give you the most accurate test. Place your fabric under the presser foot, with the right side up, starting at theback of the buttonhole and moving forward.

Cut the buttonhole using one of the three methods. Test the size by pushing the button through the cut hole. If it’stoo tight, adjust the length of the buttonhole and make another test. If the buttonhole is too loose, shorten the

length of the buttonhole.

When the first buttonhole is finished, move on to the second buttonhole and so forth, if there are multiples. Makesure to position your presser foot the same distance from the edge for each buttonhole. Hold the thread tails asyou sew the buttonhole so they don’t get caught in the buttonhole stitching.

Once you’re happy with the size of the test buttonhole, go ahead and sew the first buttonhole on the garment.

Once all of the buttonholes are sewn, apply Fray-Check to the buttonholes. This is a liquid that stiffens the fabricand makes the buttonholes easier to cut. Test the Fray-Check on your fabric scrap to be sure it won’t stain orpermanently darken your project. If it does, skip it.

Let the Fray-Check dry. Cut open the buttonholes. Trim the threads.

HOW TO CUT BUTTONHOLES

There are three ways to cut open buttonholes depending on which tools you have available. Method 2 is myfavorite, but Method 3 will work if you don’t have a buttonhole knife. Method 1 works only if you have a very sharpseam ripper.

METHOD 1

This method uses a seam ripper, with pins at each end to ensure you don’t cut too far. Place a pin at a right anglethrough each end of the buttonhole, just before the bar tack. Poke the seam ripper through the middle and slide ittoward one end and then the other.

This method requires a buttonhole knife and mat or wooden block. Place the mat or block underneath thebuttonhole, and press hard with a buttonhole knife in the middle of the buttonhole. This will make a straight cutthrough the buttonhole. You can also use a sharp X-acto knife. Repeat the cutting step for larger buttonholes,moving the knife to get close to each end without cutting the bar tack stitching.

You can also use a sharp pair of scissors. Fold the buttonhole in half, and snip the fold in the middle of thebuttonhole with scissors to start. Open out the fold and insert the tip of the scissors to make a small snip towardeach end.

Tips + Notes

Make a few test buttonholes and push your button through the test holes. Once you’ve determined the rightsize and machine settings, get a few nice ones turned out before making the buttonholes in your actualgarment.

Make sure your bobbin is full! There’s nothing more disappointing than sewing a buttonhole and runningout of thread when it’s 90 percent sewn.

Sew at an even speed. Speeding up and slowing down can result in the ends of the buttonhole not liningup.

Too-small buttonholes are bad, but avoid the inclination to overcompensate and make them too big. If yourbuttonholes are too big, the buttons will slip out and the garment won’t stay closed.

You can sew buttonholes using contrast thread, but any mistakes or unevenness will be more obvious.

Source : The Sewtionary An A to Z Guide to 101 Sewing Techniques + DefinitionsAbout the Author : Tasia ST. Germaine

Tags: how to make a button hole, how to make a buttonhole, how to make a sewing machine, how to makebuttonholes, machine buttonhole