GC Home | Register | Shop | Learn | Business | Around Town | Info

Buttonhole Embellishments
by Pauline Richards, Total Embellishment News

Button, Button, Who’s Got the Buttonhole?

(Originally published in the Winter 1998 issue of Total Embellishment News.)

Since the holidays always seem to drain the budget and January generally brings quiet, winter nights for sewing, keep the budget intact and experiment with the art of buttonhole embellishing. Quick-to-make buttonholes are a great way to create a project that’s long on style and short on expense. Choose between Neckline Weaving #013, Buttonhole Woven Vest #014, or Jeanine’s Buttonhole Embellished Jacket #015 to perfect and show off your buttonhole skills.

Doin’ it right:

• Always work a practice buttonhole on actual interfaced fabric scraps before beginning a project.

• If your machine doesn’t make tension adjustments automatically, be sure to make the change. Lower upper tension allows the bobbin threads to pull the top satin stitches down into the fabric, creating a lovely finish on the buttonhole right side.

• Always stabilize buttonholes. Since decorative buttonholes may be placed at any angle, including the true bias, it’s important to interface the areas where the buttonholes will be placed. It’s also wise to position a square of tear-away stabilizer behind each buttonhole before stitching to add additional body and stability.

• Consider marking your buttonholes with Space Tape^TM, a see-through sticky tape that includes markings for vertical and horizontal buttonholes 1/2" to 1" in size. Note: Regular frosted Magic Tape^TM can be hand-marked and used instead. You can also sew and work your buttonhole right through the tape for additional stability . . . just pull off the excess when you’re finished.

• Cording adds richness and stability to machine-made buttonholes. Refer to your machine instruction booklet for details on making corded buttonholes. After stitching a corded buttonhole use a needle to pull the cord ends to the wrong side. Tie the ends in a square knot, dot the knot with a small drop of seam sealant and clip off the excess thread.

• Start applying buttonholes at the least conspicuous point and work to the most conspicuous point. (We all generally improve with practice.)

• If interfacing or stabilizer happen to "peek" out from under your buttonholes, use permanent magic markers in the appropriate color to mask the color show-through

Pattern #014 Buttonhole Woven Vest

The Buttonhole Woven Vest is a fun first project and also utilizes decorative stitches form your sewing machine.

Materials needed:

• Solid-color fabric for your favorite dartless vest pattern. (The drawing is an actual vest front but is intended to be used as a guide for buttonhole placement. The measurements stated on the pattern can be adapted to any style vest pattern in any size.)

• Six 1/2"-wide x vest-length fabric tubes. (Tube fabric should be cut 11/2" wide, sewn with a 1/4"-wide seam allowance, turned right side out and pressed flat, creating a 1/2"-wide finished fabric tube. Make all the fabric tubes from one printed fabric or three different, coordinating prints.)

• Air-soluble marking pen or pencil.

• Thread for decorative stitching and for basic sewing .

• Space Tape^TM or Magic Tape^TM.

• Tear-away stabilizer

Embellishing:

• Mark buttonhole guide lines on the vest front by placing a strip of Space Tape^TM starting at the mid-shoulder point and going straight down to the vest hem. Tape placement should be parallel to the grain line. Add subsequent parallel rows of tape 1 3/4" apart, forming three rows down the front. Refer to Pattern #014 as you position the tape.

• Mark buttonhole guide lines on the left vest front by securing additional tape and creating a mirror image of the right vest.

• Refer to the marking guide and mark staggered pairs of 5/8"-long buttonholes the length of the rows and perpendicular to the tape strips so they will be on the crosswise grain.

• Sew the buttonholes, using the memory feature of your sewing machine for size consistency.

• Cut the buttonholes, then weave the prepared fabric strips though the buttonholes as shown.

• Back the vest fronts with tear-away stabilizer and sew decorative stitching rows between the buttonhole rows.

• Remove the excess tear-away stabilizer, press the vest fronts and complete the vest according to the pattern directions.

Pattern #013 Neckline Weaving

This simple neckline weaving can be used to embellish the front and/or back neckline of almost any garment or reshaped for the outer edge of a jacket or vest. Add a special touch by pressing a diamond-shaped metallic iron-on in the space between the buttonholes or add a button for additional color. Use this idea to create your own customized buttonhole embellished project. Kids love this threading trick -- let them weave their own ribbon or trim through the holes.

Pattern # 015 Jeanine’s Buttonhole Embellished Jacket

Jeanine Moser’s creation is a wonderfully interesting design that will definitely have people talking about you behind your back!

Developed at a sewing retreat we attended in Gleneden Beach, Ore. last November, Jeanine wove 4 lengths of ready-made, satin, bias tubing through each series of buttonholes and then tied a knot in each tube end to finish it.

To make Jeanine’s Buttonhole Embellished Jacket:

• Copy the design onto tear-away stabilizer.

• Thread your machine with thread slightly lighter than the garment color.

• Position the marked tear-away stabilizer behind the jacket’s left shoulder area and sew along all buttonhole beginning and ending lines and across buttonhole placement lines.

• Apply machine stitched buttonholes using the stitched marks as placement guide lines.

• Remove tear-away stabilizer and stitching guide lines.

• Cut the buttonholes and weave prepared fabric tubes through the buttonholes. Baste tube ends at the shoulder area.

• Finish tube ends with beads or a knot and construct the jacket following the pattern guide sheet.

More information on Total Embellishments

Back to the Get Creative! Conference Center

Back to Meet the Get Creative! Experts