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.