First Handworked Buttonhole Stitches

Firstly, let me state that I wish I had more images for you guys today with my recent finished objects but the weather has been so crappy in Chicago, I haven’t been able to go out of doors for pics.  Do you guys have any tips or suggestions to get decent indoor shots (lighting, etc.)?

Anyhow…. After completing my Linda Skirt, a project from my fall project board, as the final touch I decided that I wanted to stitch on my hook and eyes prettily.  I was inspired by the threads article by Susan Khalje about ‘sewing findings on securely‘ (findings being snaps, hooks, eyes, etc.) which I had tucked away on my pinterest tutorials board for easy access.

Similar to Sunni’s buttonhole tutorial, Susan Khalje uses the same basic buttonhole stitch to sew on her ‘findings’ with lovely results.  Since I have Colette’s Violet blouse to complete in my near future (only the buttonholes await) I decided to follow Susan’s guide as practice for my own buttonhole endeavor.

Here’s an image of Ms. Khalje’s beautiful buttonholes:

Isn’t it lovely; so pretty and tidy little green stitches.

My first and most prominent thought was how hard could it be?!  I hand-sew often, and what could be harder then sewing knots?!

Here’s my hooks using the buttonhole stitch on my Linda waistband:

Yeeeeeah…. much harder than I would ever have thought. hehehe  I’ll be the first to admit: I was really wrong!

My first one is at the far right, and I really don’t make much progress until the final eye at the far left.  I do have to say I’m quite impressed at my handiwork on that final eye, but the rest are truly awful!  They don’t even look close to any kind of buttonhole stitch one could make.  heh

Needless to say, I’m going to be making a practice buttonhole swatch before I stitch the real deal on my violet blouse.  And even then, I think I’ll work from the bottom up (ie least conspicuous).  I guess I now know why tailors say that it takes 999 handworked buttonholes to be a master at them.

In: Sewing

Blogger for 6 years and counting, I am a passionate creator who loves to tinker.

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