Hi all,
Wondering if there is a good guide to hand sewing buttonholes without stabilizing the fabric with fusing. With fusing, my buttonholes are decent
(https://i.postimg.cc/v40R3J6P/B202-EE3-D-E39-A-4-EC9-9-D04-27-CE508-CB053.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/v40R3J6P)
But without fusing I'm hopeless. Even with a floating interliner, say for shirt cuffs/plackets/collars, and overcasting the edge by hand, I'm still met with fraying, or the edge near the cut coming apart from the fabric midway through the stitch process. I genuinely enjoy hand finished details, especially buttonholes, and prefer soft construction (especially when using oxford cloth).
How should I approach soft or unfused construction with hand-sewn buttonholes? Or should I just fuse the area always?
I love hand sewn buttonholes with what ever the cloth, especially oxford, poplin anything really.
Thinking mostly of shirts here, because silk is de'rigueur for coats.
I have occasionally used an embroidery ring, but mostly it is skillful use of fingers aquired through practice. And I never use interfacing.
Following peterle's advice, years ago I turned to cotton a'broder No. 25. If you are going to do them make a feature of it. Plus the slightly thicker thread gives more body and firmer shape.
Plus I make a double knot around the ring. I think it just looks better, more lifted up.
G
I usually baste around the button hole Mark to prevent the layers from shifting. The mark should follow the grain line.
Dependig of the fabric I then do a line of running stitches very closely around the mark that will be overcasted.
Then I cut the hole(beteeen the lines) and overcast it with a few stitches using very fine thread and needle.
Finally I do the languette stitch or in very light fabrics just a tighter overcasting stitch like in the pic.
(https://i.postimg.cc/mhv8m1Zd/IMG-20240301-105153.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/mhv8m1Zd)
With shirts, you can machine round the opening. Either two parallel lines, or a rectangular box. It helps to stabilise the opening.
If you can do buttonholes by machine, this is even better, resulting in a 'half-and-half' buttonhole (half machined, half hand-worked). Use slightly larger spacing than normal and don't go over the buttonhole multiple times (only once). This not only prevents fraying, but provides a template for your hand stitches.
I forgot to mention basting. ;D
Are you pulling your stitches to tight?
In this case I did. The fabric ist very very light, a bit see through quality. I pulled the ridges tighter to prevent any shifting to reduce the danger of ripping or fraying.
Because of the sheer fabric I didn t use any interfacing.
That is interesting cloth you got, Peterle.
I also like it. It s a vintage border print, 80s obviousely😁
(https://i.postimg.cc/q624JPST/IMG-20240304-185027.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/q624JPST)
That's nice.
Quote from: Greger on March 02, 2024, 07:26:23 PMAre you pulling your stitches to tight?
yes, most likely. Perhaps it's a matter of working out the proper tension through practice
I'd recommend working a few practice buttonholes in an embroidery hoop. The hoop holds the tension of the fabric properly and you should see a huge improvement. Perhaps by experiencing this (if you've not done embroidery work or its been awhile), you can work out the best way to manipulate the fabric with your non-sewing hand in order to maintain proper tension. I find this is an issue on most handworked shirt buttonholes - even in photos of well known shirtmakers.
Most shirting fabrics would allow for extraneous fabric to be basted to cuffs and collars for temporary use of a hoop. When sewing for myself, I'll take the extra time for a better result.
Quote from: spookietoo on April 09, 2024, 01:37:55 AMMost shirting fabrics would allow for extraneous fabric to be basted to cuffs and collars for temporary use of a hoop
Do you have a pic example of this that you wouldn't mind sharing? trying to imagine how this would work under the tension of the hoop
James MacAuslan has a video demonstrating the use of an embroidery hoop (though not as described by spookietoo). By his own admission, the results aren't great, but in all fairness he's a cutter at Budd, not one of their machinists/finishers.
https://youtu.be/WazsliKfDSE?si=o8gXIjVDIaLeDv2S&t=306
I'd be a little concerned about permanently stretching the cloth on the weft with his method. spookietoo's sounds like a better option.