I spent two weeks researching buttons and buttonholes as thoroughly as I possibly could to bring you all of this great information. But I am only going to give you a small taste of what was written because I would very much appreciate you showing support to the
Eunoia Design Group for commissioning me to write this blog. You can find the whole blog post over there in all it's glorious detail! Thank you!!
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Buttons, as intimidating at they may seem really aren’t that difficult, once you understand the basics. First, when you have a pattern and you know buttons are needed, the pattern should give you some indication of the size button (not that you need to use buttons of that size, but they are usually what is recommended). This button size should be written right into the pattern with the notions needed. You are more than welcome to use whatever size buttons you want, just keep in mind that the specific look the pattern was designed for maybe based around the buttons and changing them, while fun and probably super adorable, can change the balance of the pattern and you may need to adjust the spacing and size of the buttonholes.
Buttonhole placement
Generally, buttonhole placement is marked with a large “I” shape that is either vertical or horizontal "H" depending on which way the buttonhole needs to be. Usually, but not always, there can be an X indicating the actual button placement. It may be on the opposite piece from the buttonhole (just like a button would be opposite a buttonhole) or it may be on the buttonhole, or it may be missing altogether. That’s okay, a button and a buttonhole go together, so if you’re missing the “X” just use the buttonhole placement guide, it won’t steer you wrong!
These markings need to be transferred to your fabric. Now, let’s say your pattern calls for one-inch buttons and you decide you would like to use half-inch buttons but you want to have the buttons be more frequent to make up for the smaller size, or just to look pretty. You can absolutely do this! What a great idea! But you may have a little math to do to keep everything even. Now, I’m not going to give you this math, because it’s going to be different depending on the size buttons, size of the pattern and personal tastes, but I will show you a tool that will make this so much easier!
This is a sewing gauge. It is used to help plan the button placement you want on your pattern. I wish I had one to show you how to works. But this one isn't mine, it's from
Amazon. This is not an affiliated link, just a link back to the product to give credit where credit is due.
Anyway, you can use this fancy tool to help calculate the distance of the buttons without any fancy math. How cool is that?!
Okay, so buttonholes have been marked! Step one down! Yay!
Next step!
Stabilization!
Unless you are using a really heavy and stable fabric, you are going to want to stabilize your fabric before sewing buttonholes into it. You should have instructions in your pattern to the weight of the stabilizer you should be using, but a light to medium weight should work just fine. You will want a kind that is made for collars and buttons. I prefer to use iron-on interfacing, but where we will be sewing into this, you can use a sew-in stabilizer and it should work just fine, it just might slide around, but I wouldn’t know for sure, because I always use iron-on. Do not use an interfacing that is labeled as no-sew, it will gum up your needle something fierce, I learned that lesson the hard way, learn from my mistakes, my friends. But feel free to use knit interfacing on knit fabrics and woven interfacing on woven fabrics, unless your pattern specifically says different.
Real quick, I want to show you the difference between a buttonhole with interfacing and one without.
The one with the interfacing looks so much more crisp and clear and even. The one without has uneven stitches and is stretched out a little.
Speaking of the “look,” did you know there is more than one kind of buttonhole? There are a whole bunch!
I have a Brother SE-400 and I have 10 different programmed 1-step buttonholes! And I am quite sure you could find more styles if you wanted to look. But because I only have my machine to play with, I’m only going to talk about these particular and common buttonholes.
But before I delve into the looks and uses, I want to show you my buttonhole foot. From every angle.
This is what’s called a 1-step buttonhole foot. That just means that when I select the buttonhole I want to sew and set it up correctly all I will need to do is start the machine sewing and the foot will tell the machine all it needs to know about how and where and how big the buttonhole needs to be.
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Oh, my friends! That was a lot to sit through. I am super impressed that you have made it this far! Thank you for joining me on this journey through buttonholes and their many creations and buttons and their fun! I have a deep love for buttons and a collection that rivals my mother’s!
I sure hope that you have come to appreciate and understand buttons just a little bit more, at least enough to make them a little less scary.
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If you are intrigued by this and want to learn more, please stop by the
Eunoia Blog and take a look at the whole thing. There is a lot of information and a lot to take in, so if you have questions, leave them here for me and I'll get back to you! Thank you for taking a moment to check this out!
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