I never really liked making buttonholes – maybe it’s because my machine doesn’t do the greatest job at stitching them. If it’s one buttonhole for a skirt or pair of pants, I don’t really mind. But when it comes to 12 buttonholes going down the front of a garment, like a button-down shirt or this skirt, for example, I cringe.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my sewing machine: a Bernina 1005 that my mom gave to me (it was used in a home ec class at a local high school – someone etched the band “Slip Knot” on to the side of the machine). It gets the job done when it comes to sewing up garments, but I guess I’m spoiled because I know what it’s like to sew on a really really nice machine like my mom’s Bernina, which makes an automatic buttonhole. My machine isn’t computerized, so I’m dependant on cranking the buttonhole knob and sewing my buttonhole step by step, with the risk of sewing the buttonhole too long or making too many stitches for the bar tack. I also don’t have a buttonhole foot for my machine so I can’t easily see what I’m sewing. It’s like inserting an invisible zipper without an invisible zipper foot (which I’ve done, and it’s not fun).
So needless to say, I don’t like sewing buttonholes. I made a practice buttonhole, thought it turned out ok, and then proceeded to start stitching them up on my Beignet. Here’s the results so far:
Not the greatest looking buttonholes, sadly.. But eeeek, I cut the stitching!! See where my thumb is? Using my buttonhole cutter, I managed to slice through the stitching when I was cutting open the hole. My guess is that I stitched my buttonhole beading too close together. The top buttonhole is in the same state, too. I’m wondering if I should dab on some Fray Chek and move on or try and stitch it again?
And then of course, my thread ran out on the third one. Ugh. Buttonholes are a bitch.
If you cut the stitching like that you can just use a small zig zag stitch to repair the damaged part and nobody will be the wiser!
Ahh, that's a good point, thanks!
I was taught to always use fray check and let it dry before cutting button holes. Makes for a neater button hole, if your machine makes neat ones, sorry, no fraying where you cut. I agree with the above comment for a remedy after the fact. One other option would have been bound button holes. I have to ask, what brand machine are you using? I think some machine just do better button holes. Hang in there…
A good trick to keep from cutting your buttonholes is to place a pin right before the stitching– that way your seam ripper can't cut past the pin into the stitching! I have a four-step buttonholer, too, and it's not as fun as an automatic, but I like that you can go back and stitch over just one side at a time if you don't feel it's strong enough in one place. It's marking the buttonholes that brings me down!