Sew Easy #16, Bound Buttonholes

there's several ways to make bound button  holes if you've had difficulty in the past I suggest that you try this method  unlike the machine made buttonholes which are put in after the garment takes shape  round buttonholes are one of the first steps let me review with you the preparatory steps in  making a bound button hole so we can spend most of our time on the buttonhole itself first of all the  markings for the buttonholes in the center front are placed on the interfacing buttonholes on  women's clothing are always on the right front so be sure you're working on the right unit turn to  the wrong side and pin your interfacing in place stay stitch through both thicknesses at  the neckline and at the shoulder seam most the work on the bound button  holes will be on the right side so we need to use basting stitches to  transfer these markings to the right side place the basting stitch for the buttonholes  a fourth of an inch above the markings I know you're going to wonder why we're  placing this basting line a quarter of an inch above the marking watch this  basting line and this carbon line which is being marked darker and I think you will  have your answer by the end of this demonstration the length of the buttonhole is determined by  the diameter of the button plus the thickness mark this length along the basting line for  your buttonhole do this for all your buttonholes and then connect these marks  with rows of basting stitches these preparations will help you  make all your buttonholes alike next from scraps of your dress material cut a one  and a half inch strip along the lengthwise grain this strip needs to be marked into three equal  widths one half inch each so set your seam guide for half inch put in one row then turn it  over and put in a second row of stitching fold on one of these basting lines and press  then stitch an eighth of an inch from the crease now fold the other side down and press  it and stitching this one be sure to hold the free edge of the other side up out  of the way so it does not get stitched this strip will actually form your it buttonholes  now become a strip with two small tucks in fact it's sometimes called a tucked buttonhole  you can check your accuracy at this time and make any corrections before applying it to your  garment if you follow each step accurately the edges of the tucks will meet in  the center when they are folded in each one of the buttonholes requires a strip  about an inch longer than the buttonhole itself this extra inch will give us about a half an inch  to fasten down on either side of the buttonholes and then this strip should be long enough to  provide material for our practice buttonhole at this point you're probably becoming curious  as to what these buttonholes will look like when finished let me show you my practice button hole  and since this was a practice buttonhole I haven't taken time to remove the bastings now we're  ready to put the buttonholes onto our garment working on the right side of your blouse take one  of the sections from your strip and lay it down so that the two raw edges are standing up bring it up  to your basting line so the top edge comes to it and slightly covers the basting then be  sure that you have about a half an inch extending on either side of the buttonhole  markings pins in place we're ready to stitch I'll continue to use white threads so that you  can see the stitches but at this point you would change to a thread that matches your fabric  and change the stitch length to a sharp stitch i'm going to sew right along this row  of stitching that was used to form the tucks and in order for you to see how i'm  going to stitch i'll use an illustration this represents the tuck section of our buttonhole and these are the two rows of basting  lines that mark the end of the buttonhole I'm going to start stitching a fourth of an  inch from the end and sew right up to the end of the buttonhole leave my needle down  and turn the fabric around so right back on that rural stitching to the other  end turn the fabric around and stitch right back another fourth of an inch  now let me show you how to do that and stitch this other tuck  down exactly the same way continue this step on all of your buttonholes so  they remain in the same stage of development all the way through before you go the next step check  your accuracy on the wrong side your lines of stitching should end right at the basting line and  the two rows should remain the same distance apart on every one of your buttonholes here's a pencil  line midway between your two rows of stitching this line will end up at the middle of your  buttonhole so now we'll cut on that line these represent the two stitching lines you just  looked at on the wrong side of the buttonhole I'm going to cut along this carbon  line that was marked with a pencil and here are two important things I  want you to keep in mind start cutting in the center and cut diagonally  out to the very end of the stitching cut all the way out to that last stitch to  avoid puckers at the end of your buttonhole then stop cutting far enough back from the end  that you can have a deep triangle at the end and here's about the way  your cutting line will look hold your fingers on the underside of your  buttonhole to keep the pieces out of your way while you're cutting cutting  is as important as the stitching here's where your buttonhole seems  like magic push all these raw edges through to the wrong side smooth them out and there's your buttonhole hold the two edges of the buttonhole together with overcasting stitches so they'll stay  right in place while we complete the buttonhole and then to reinforce the ends of the buttonhole fold the garment back and stitch  this triangle down to the tucks the basting stitch is right  at the base of the triangle use that as a guide and stitch right on that line back stitch to tack stitch the other end the  buttonhole and that's as far as you'll go with the buttonholes until your dress is practically  finished i know you're anxious to see how we cut through the facing and here is a garment ready for  that step trim the extra material from the ends of your buttonhole and then baste the facing  down to the garment around the buttonhole mark the length of buttonhole by  putting a pin down on either end turn it over and cut the  facing between the two pins remove the pins and cut just a few threads  beyond the place where the pin was in fold the facing under and whip  it down to the stitching line reinforce the end of the buttonholes by making  two or three stitches right on top of each other here's the wrong side of the  buttonhole and here is the right side Try making a buttonhole this way. I think you'll like it.