The Secret to the Perfect Buttonhole

Friday, November 10, 2017


Tailor's Tacks.

I know... you thought I was going to give you a Harry Potter magic buttonhole spell. Or, a brilliant sewing-machine-settings-sequence that works for every single sewing machine and fabric combination.

However, I think the fear around buttonholes is not the putting in of the buttonholes themselves, but more about the making sure they're evenly spaced, and, you know, straight.

Unfortunately, you can't get away with not testing how your sewing machine and particular fabric are going to play together - you will need to test and adjust your buttonhole settings each time, BUT, you can make it infinitely easier on yourself by marking out your buttonhole placement accurately so that when it comes time to put them in, you don't have to think about it and your buttonholes will come out perfectly spaced and non-wonky, every single time.

Enter, the humble Tailor's Tack.

If your pattern has buttons, it should come with the buttonhole placement marked somewhere. For Mayberry, I put them on the facing so that when it comes time to take your tacks out, if you accidentally get a little bit of brightly coloured thread fluff caught in the seam, it doesn't matter because you won't see it (and it happens to all of us at one point or another).

Steps:

1. Take a length of high-contrast thread and thread a needle - there is no need to knot the ends and it's totally up to you whether you use a double or single thread.



2. On the right side, thread your needle from one end of the buttonhole marking through to the other, piercing the underside of your fabric and coming back through at the other end of your buttonhole marking. Leave a long tail.



3. Make a loop of thread by going back through your already threaded sections, leave a long tail and snip your needle off.



4. Repeat for remaining button holes.


5. Take a pair of scissors and snip the loop in half.


6. Remove your pattern piece and assemble your pattern as per the instructions. Your tailor's tack's are pretty sturdy, and as long as you've left decent tail lengths, they should remain in place until you're ready to sew in your buttonholes.

To sew your buttonholes in, start at one end of the tailor's tack and stitch in a straight line to the other side. Remove your tack with a pair of tweezers.


See! Now there is no need to be scared of buttonholes any more.

xx
J
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