Sewing Buttonholes

A Buttonholes Story

My first sewing machine had what was called an "automatic buttonholer." If I recall correctly all it did was sew tiny stitches very close together and the machine would help you make the buttonhole a consistent length and width.

It was a complete disaster. I don't know what I was doing wrong, but my buttonholes always can out tiny. I pretty quickly gave up on the whole idea of making anything with buttons if it meant sewing buttonholes.

But this story has a happy ending. My husband bought me one of those more sophisticated machines I was talking about a minute ago, and it has a real automatic buttonhole maker. You just put the machine on the proper setting, drop the button onto the end of the "buttonhole foot," position the fabric where you want your buttonhole to be and press the pedal while the machine makes a perfectly sized buttonhole.

It's like magic. I love it. Now I want to make things with buttons just so I can play with it.

Kinds of Buttonholes

If you're not so lucky to have a great husband who will buy you a great machine, you have several options. I'll bet you didn't know there are different kinds of buttonholes, but there are several, usually known as bound buttonholes, worked buttonholes and slash buttonholes.

Worked buttonholes are the most popular sewing buttonholes, and they are what you think of when you think of buttonholes. They're versatile and pretty easy to make. This is what your sewing machine makes if you have a machine that makes buttonholes. It is characterized by thread running around the edges of the hole.

Bound buttonholes are a much fancier buttonhole that is surrounded by fabric instead of thread. These buttonholes are usually only seen on well-tailored women's clothes. They are more difficult to make than worked buttonholes, but make a beautiful garment if you can pull it off. I've never actually made one, so I don't feel comfortable giving you instructions on how to do it. This tutorial from Simplicity can guide you through the process.

Slash buttonholes are used on fabrics that don't ravel such as fleece, leather, suede and vinyl. It basically entails making a rectangle the shape of the buttonhole using short stitches on your machine or by hand and then "slashing" the fabric within to make a buttonhole.

How Big Should My Buttonhole Be?

The toughest part about sewing buttonholes is knowing what size of buttonhole you need to make. The size of the buttonhole, of course, depends on the size of the button. Measure around the widest part of the button (use a piece of thread, mark the width of the button, and measure it) and make sure that the length of your buttonhole is at least half that width.

The key is that the button needs to be able to move in and out of the hole easily, but not so easily that your garment will look sloppy. If you aren't sure you're planning buttonholes of the right size, make a test one on a similar piece of fabric and see how it works.

Where Do My Buttonholes Go?

This is probably something that people who aren't sewing buttonholes never think about, but the buttons go on the right for men's clothes and the left for women's clothes (that's the side they're on when you have the piece of clothing on).

Buttonholes need to be spaced so there is not gapping in your garment, but there shouldn't be too many buttons, either, unless that's the look you are going for. If you are working with a pattern it will indicate where the buttons should go, but it will not show how long the buttonholes should be, as that will vary depending on the buttons you use.

Sewing Buttonholes

Buttonholes can be sewn by machine or by hand. For most purposes, a machine-sewn buttonhole is fine. Hand-sewn buttonholes are only really necessary on delicate fabrics like silk.

If you're sewing a row of buttonholes, make sure the fabric underneath has interfacing, even if the pattern didn't call for it. This will give that area of the garment more strength, which it will need because you're pulling on it a lot.

Mark the position of the buttonhole, top, bottom and sides, on the interfacing. Use pins or basting to mark these lines on the outside of the garment, where chalk or pen might become permanent.

If you are sewing buttonholes by machine, uses these lines as a guide for the smallest, closest-together satin stitches your machine can make. Fro a nicer-looking buttonhole, go all the way around once, then carefully cut the buttonhole open and sew around again.

If you are sewing the buttonhole by hand, cut the buttonhole open first, using the basting or pins as a guide, and then sew carefully all around the edge.

Sewing buttonholes can be nerve-wracking and time-consuming, but a well-placed buttonhole makes all the difference in your finished projects.