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Instructions for Hand Sewing Buttonholes
By Chris Sullivan
READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE STARTING! Practice on some scrap cloth to get the 'feel' of the needle, thread, estimating of stitch distances, etc. Hand sewn buttonholes are very difficult to remove or snip out. Make your mistakes on scrap ... it's much better.
Sewing procedures vary from seamstress to seamstress, tailor to tailor. The method outlined below is the style used by Chris Sullivan of Stony Brook Company. There are other methods that are available and historically correct, but the results are always the same. It is strictly a matter of personal preference. Like electricity, Chris likes to follow the path of least resistance (and work) and still get the same historically accurate results.
Getting Started
Seam felling and buttonhole work can be best achieved (in the majority), by a single strand of thread. It would be set up as such.
Thread a sharp needle with a strand of approximately 20" of strong thread [100% cotton or linen preferred -eds.] with only three or four inches need to be pulled through the needle eye and left hanging. It would not be pulled to an equal length and then knotted. In other words, if you threaded a needle with say 20" of thread, three or four inches of that thread would be hanging out of one side of the needle's eye and 16" or 17" handing down the other side. The end of the longest piece would be knotted off - the other end hangs loose. Of course, it is held on to when the stitch is tighten or "tugged" but that's it. When you proceed to sew in the method outlined, only one strand of thread is actually doing the work. Naturally when the work is finished, it is tacked off in the normal fashion.20 inches of thread should be more than enough to do one coat-sized buttonhole. Cuff sized buttonholes take a little less.
Working right to left (fabric in your left-hand and needle in your right) push the needle up through the cloth from the bottom about 1/16" (+/-) in from the slit in the cloth. Start your first stitch at the top of the fabric slit. From this point you will be working down, or towards you - not away from you.
A. Pull your thread completely through and reinsert your needles point underneath at the point the thread first came through the cloth. This will make a large thread loop.
B. Push the needle through again and pull until you have closed the thread loop to about the size of a dime or slightly smaller.
C. Insert your needle through the dime sized loop coming towards you (that is the needle moving through the loop towards your body) pulling constantly to your right. This will close the loop completely and make a knot or 'pearl'. Pull the thread until it is snug against the buttonhole slit.
D. Reenter your needle into the fabric from underneath and ever so slightly next to (down from) the 'pearl' of the last stitch. The closer the stitch, the tighter the buttonhole.
E. Pull your thread through, closing the loop as in 'B'. Follow with 'C' and 'D' until you have gone completely around the fabric slit and are back at the point you started.
F. Bring your needle to the underside of the buttonhole where you just finished and just make a few tacks or catches to lock the thread. Clip close to the tack and that's it!
See Chris' Illustration Here:
NOTE:
This article was originally published on the Rockport Mess website and then was moved with Chris' permission to the Authentic Campaigner site.
By Chris Sullivan
READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE STARTING! Practice on some scrap cloth to get the 'feel' of the needle, thread, estimating of stitch distances, etc. Hand sewn buttonholes are very difficult to remove or snip out. Make your mistakes on scrap ... it's much better.
Sewing procedures vary from seamstress to seamstress, tailor to tailor. The method outlined below is the style used by Chris Sullivan of Stony Brook Company. There are other methods that are available and historically correct, but the results are always the same. It is strictly a matter of personal preference. Like electricity, Chris likes to follow the path of least resistance (and work) and still get the same historically accurate results.
Getting Started
Seam felling and buttonhole work can be best achieved (in the majority), by a single strand of thread. It would be set up as such.
Thread a sharp needle with a strand of approximately 20" of strong thread [100% cotton or linen preferred -eds.] with only three or four inches need to be pulled through the needle eye and left hanging. It would not be pulled to an equal length and then knotted. In other words, if you threaded a needle with say 20" of thread, three or four inches of that thread would be hanging out of one side of the needle's eye and 16" or 17" handing down the other side. The end of the longest piece would be knotted off - the other end hangs loose. Of course, it is held on to when the stitch is tighten or "tugged" but that's it. When you proceed to sew in the method outlined, only one strand of thread is actually doing the work. Naturally when the work is finished, it is tacked off in the normal fashion.20 inches of thread should be more than enough to do one coat-sized buttonhole. Cuff sized buttonholes take a little less.
Working right to left (fabric in your left-hand and needle in your right) push the needle up through the cloth from the bottom about 1/16" (+/-) in from the slit in the cloth. Start your first stitch at the top of the fabric slit. From this point you will be working down, or towards you - not away from you.
A. Pull your thread completely through and reinsert your needles point underneath at the point the thread first came through the cloth. This will make a large thread loop.
B. Push the needle through again and pull until you have closed the thread loop to about the size of a dime or slightly smaller.
C. Insert your needle through the dime sized loop coming towards you (that is the needle moving through the loop towards your body) pulling constantly to your right. This will close the loop completely and make a knot or 'pearl'. Pull the thread until it is snug against the buttonhole slit.
D. Reenter your needle into the fabric from underneath and ever so slightly next to (down from) the 'pearl' of the last stitch. The closer the stitch, the tighter the buttonhole.
E. Pull your thread through, closing the loop as in 'B'. Follow with 'C' and 'D' until you have gone completely around the fabric slit and are back at the point you started.
F. Bring your needle to the underside of the buttonhole where you just finished and just make a few tacks or catches to lock the thread. Clip close to the tack and that's it!
See Chris' Illustration Here:
NOTE:
This article was originally published on the Rockport Mess website and then was moved with Chris' permission to the Authentic Campaigner site.
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