I know the secret to making perfect buttonholes with your sewing machine. Learn my tried-and-true method for sewing buttonholes on any machine.

In this YouTube sewing tutorial on buttonhole troubleshooting, you will learn how to fix automatic buttonhole problems. Check out these 9 tips for sewing buttonholes and what to do if your buttonhole foot gets stuck/not moving. Learn how to use a buttonhole foot and how to use a sewing machine to make easy DIY buttonholes.

In this YouTube sewing tutorial on buttonhole troubleshooting, you will learn how to fix automatic buttonhole problems. Check out these 9 tips for sewing buttonholes and what to do if your buttonhole foot gets stuck/not moving. Learn how to use a buttonhole foot and how to use a sewing machine to make easy DIY buttonholes.

Learn about different ways to cut open a buttonhole for a clean look. Each uses a different tool and would work best for different fabrics.

I often hear from sewing friends that they are afraid of buttonholes and have to hold their breath every time they make one because they never know if it will turn out right. Some of our readers have never even tried it or don't have the right machine foot. That's okay, I understand. But we're all done with that! There are SO many adorable outfits we can make using buttonholes. No more fears - we're going to learn this skill and get on with our lives. Today we are sharing some tips with you on how to get your buttonholes to turn out great every time, no matter what machine you have. First we'll go through some helpful tips and then we'll even show you how to do it with our handy dandy video clips! No buttonhole foot for your machine? No problem! I will show you how to make a buttonhole using a standard zigzag foot and stitch. Let's get started! Not all tips will apply to your machine, but you're bound to learn what you need to! Read the section that applies in your machine's manual. I didn't say you have to read the whole manual (who does that?) but you do need to read the applicable section. All machines are different and this section is generally less than a page long. Read it to learn the right settings! Check your settings every time. And when I say every time, I mean before each and every buttonhole. A quick glance at the dials can save a lot of trouble. Many machines have you "reset" the feature after each buttonhole. I do it right after finishing a buttonhole and right before starting the next one - just to be sure. Make sure the fabric has stability. Anytime we make a buttonhole we need to go through at least two layers. If there is not already a second layer behind what we're sewing, we can add a scrap of interfacing or stabilizer. This is especially important when sewing buttonholes on knit fabric. Most quality patterns will already have this included in the instructions but some may assume that you already know. Clearly mark your buttonhole before sewing. Always! If you're in a hurry you may be tempted to close your eyes and hope for the best. Good luck with that. Do a practice run for the size of buttonhole you're making. This may not be necessary for some machine models, but on my machine I always sew a practice buttonhole to make sure it is the length I want it to be. It is rarely off, but after working so hard on an outfit, "rarely" is too often for me! A practice run also helps make sure that our tension is set right for the fabric we're using. (I test on a folded over scrap of my current fabric.) Before sewing, lower the needle by hand to make sure you're starting where you want to. It doesn't take long and if we don't start in the right place we certainly won't end in the right place. Once everything is lined up and ready to go, go for it! Trust your machine, hold your breath, do whatever you need to do, but there's a good chance that if you did everything above, your buttonhole is going to turn out great. If not, just take it out and start over! You can do this! Oh and one more thing. When your buttonholes are all perfectly sewn and ready to cut, we can just whip out our seam ripper and let it fly, right? Wrong! Not unless you want to tear through your outfit when you least expect it. My last little tip for today is how to cut a buttonhole safely. All we do is put a straight pin at the top of the hole to protect the stitches and our precious outfit: Even if our cutting hand slips a little bit,the pin will stop the seam ripper from going farther than it's supposed to. Hooray for pins! Now it's time for the quick videos! In the first video we will watch how I sew a buttonhole on my machine. It may or may not be similar to yours, but if you haven't done it before it will at least help you see that your machine will not explode if you try it out. In this second video, we will watch how to make a buttonhole on a machine even if we do not have a buttonhole foot or function on our machine. All we need is a standard zigzag foot. Neat! Here it is: In case that wasn't all clear, let's review: To make a buttonhole using a zigzag foot, set the stitch length as low as it will go and the stitch to a wide zigzag. Sew a few stitches to create the wide end of the buttonhole. Then change to a narrower zigzag and sew a line the length of the buttonhole, stopping when we get to the other end. Switch back to the wide zigzag and sew a few stitches like we did on the first end. Now to sew the last line of our buttonhole, we will carefully slide the fabric over by hand and switch back to the narrower zigzag. Now we will sew in reverse, creating the parallel line that takes us back to where we started. Not too bad, right? Keep in mind that professionals often lower their "feed dogs" while doing the ends of the buttonholes so the stitch isn't moving forward at all, but my machine likes to jam when I do that and I've found that a really low stitch length works just as well. One more video for today! How to cut open the buttonhole once it is beautifully sewn: Wasn't that fun? That's all for our tutorial today! Did you learn anything new? Are you excited to go out and try it? A few of my favorite patterns that use buttonholes are Kadence's Knot Top, Mia's Reverse Knot Twirly Dress, and Jeffrey's Summer Jumper. Surely those are cute enough to motivate us all to get going with our buttonholes. If you have any questions that we didn't cover here, please ask in the comments below and we'd be happy to help. Let's Create! ~ Kristen

This step by step tutorial on How to Sew a Buttonhole by Hand contains all the info you need to know. Click here to learn how!

I always thought the positions of button and buttonhole are pretty self-explanatory. But more than one occasion, I have seen buttons that were placed a bit too close to the edge of a garment. I haven’t seen anyone discussing the topic in a blog post, so I thought I could contribute a little to the […]

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In this YouTube sewing tutorial on buttonhole troubleshooting, you will learn how to fix automatic buttonhole problems. Check out these 9 tips for sewing buttonholes and what to do if your buttonhole foot gets stuck/not moving. Learn how to use a buttonhole foot and how to use a sewing machine to make easy DIY buttonholes.

In this YouTube sewing tutorial on buttonhole troubleshooting, you will learn how to fix automatic buttonhole problems. Check out these 9 tips for sewing buttonholes and what to do if your buttonhole foot gets stuck/not moving. Learn how to use a buttonhole foot and how to use a sewing machine to make easy DIY buttonholes.

Варианты обработки разреза рукава, выполнение шлицы на рукаве

Do you want to learn how to use a buttonhole foot? Buttonholes are an essential part of sewing. They can be used for decorative purposes or functional ones, such as closures on clothing. But when it comes time to actually sew them, they can seem like a daunting task. Luckily, with the right tools and knowledge, making beautiful buttonholes is easy! This guide will teach you everything you need to know about using your machine's built-in buttonhole presser foot so that you can create perfect buttonholes every time.

Buttonholes. For many of us, beads of sweat start to form at the mention of the word. "Am I about to ruin everything by botching the buttonholes?" Nope! They’re really not hard once you break it down into individual steps.

Learn how to sew a zipper to put in any bag or pouch. This lined tutorial looks really great and is a beginner sewing project!

With edges wrapped in fabric, these buttonholes are bound to last.

Learn about different ways to cut open a buttonhole for a clean look. Each uses a different tool and would work best for different fabrics.

Believe it or not, this sewing tip is courtesy of Tom Silva, from This Old House. He used this method to space porch pickets, but it also works great for spacing buttonholes.

Learn how to create Anne Kendall's classic, corded buttonhole.

beauty of buttonhole

Ah, bound buttonholes. Aren't they such a lovely detail? The thing about bound buttonholes is that they're often the very first thing you do while sewing a garment—unlike regular buttonholes which get made almost last in the process. So if you're making bound buttonholes on your Lady Grey coat, now's the time to do them! After cutting your coat pieces out and serging the edges (if desired), this is the next step. (If you're not making bound buttonholes, skip this step and make your buttonholes when the pattern instructions direct.) This is my absolute favorite method of making bound buttonholes. The first part is called the "windowpane method" because you make a little window in your fabric using a silk organza facing. "Lips" are formed with two squares of fabric behind the window. Always make a test buttonhole in your actual fabric! Here I'm using some scraps in different colors so you can see it well. 1. The first thing to do stabilize the area with a fusible interfacing. Cut out a small circle of fusible (I like Weft interfacing for this purpose) with pinking shears. Fuse it to the wrong side of your fabric where the buttonhole will be positioned. 2. Next, mark the placement of your buttonhole. I like a chalk pen in a bright color for this purpose. Here is the buttonhole line and ends marked. 3. Now, draw two more lines: each 1/4" on either side of the horizontal buttonhole line—one line above it and one line below it. This outer rectangle will form the "window". Here it is marked in red. 4. Now cut out a square of silk organza that matches your fabric closely. (I'm using a contrasting color here so you can see it). I made my square 3". 5. Now, center this square over your buttonhole marking, on the right side of the fabric. Pin it in place on each side of the square. On the wrong side you'll only be able to see the pins. (Marked with arrows here!) 6. Now take this to your machine and machine stitch around the rectangle for the window. (Marked in yellow here.) Use a very short stitch length and follow your markings very carefully. Pivot at each corner. It helps to start along in the middle of a long side. If you want to be really precise, you can count your stitches per side to make sure it's even. Another handy tip is to use a clear foot so you can see where you're stitching. Here it is on the right side. (Oops, my organza wasn't quite centered! That's okay, it will still work.) 7. Now use your stitch ripper to start a hole in the middle of the buttonhole. Use a small pair of scissors to cut to 1/4" away from each side. Then cut diagonally into the corners of the buttonhole, getting very close (but not cutting into!) the stitching. Follow the purple arrows in this pic: Here's what it looks like on the right side: 8. Now you want to push the organza through to the wrong side. View from the wrong side: 9. Use your iron to press the organza flat, pulling it through as much as possible so the organza is almost undetectable on the right side. On the right side it forms the "windowpane." 10. Now it's time to form the lips of the buttonhole. (Note that I'm using a contrasting color of fabric here so you can see it.) You need to cut out two pieces of fabric that are 1-1/2" high and one inch longer than the width of your buttonhole. In this case, our buttons are 1", so your fabric pieces will be 1-1/2" tall by 2" wide. Cut two of these pieces. 11. Now pin the pieces together, right sides together and mark a stitching line down the middle (vertically) of the two pieces. 12. Stitch down this line with a long basting stitch. 13. Now you want to "butterfly" the pieces open so the right sides are out and each piece is folded over itself, with the basting stitch holding the pieces together down the middle. Press the piece so it retains this shape. These are your upper and lower lips of your buttonhole. 14. Place the lips behind your window and pin on the top and bottom (where the arrows are). **Note: at this point, you may want to slip stitch the lips in place around the edge of the window. This will ensure that they won't move at all during the next steps. 15. The goal of the next steps is to secure the lips in place by machine stitching the lips to the "triangles" formed when you ironed the organza in step 9. Remember the little triangles on the back? Fold one side over itself so you can see the triangle on top of the lips. 16. Take it to your machine and stitch the triangle to the lips. I like to use a zipper foot so you can get really close to the fold of the outer fabric. Here you can see the stitching line. 17. Repeat this step on the triangle on the opposite side. Now, repeat it on each of the triangles on the long edges. All four triangles are stitched down now. And your buttonhole is finished! 18. When your coat is finished, you'll remove the basting between the lips. It's a good idea to test your practice buttonhole with your actual coat buttons. Make sure it passes through the buttonhole easily. That's it for now! After we stitch the lining and front facing onto the coat body, there will be another step where we'll make little openings in the facing for the button to pass through, on the backside of the buttonhole. Basically, it involves cutting open a window on the facing and slipstitching it around the back of the buttonhole. Let me know if you have questions!

Zips are used as a fastener in many clothing types, but there are different methods for sewing zippers! Here are 6 to get you started!

A simple and easy step-by-step tutorial on how to install a standard zipper using the centered method. All you need is some tape and a longer-than-you-need zipper. That way, the zipper pull will be…

Struggling with sewing buttonholes? Here’s a post full of tips and tricks to get you confidently sewing buttonholes; to give you a really comprehensive overview, I’ve drawn on a wealth of kno…

Sewing Zippers and Buttons: Zippers and buttons that let you open and close things are an important part of a lot of sewing projects, especially when you're sewing with non-stretch fabric. In this lesson we'll learn about some of the different types of zippers and buttons and…

In this YouTube sewing tutorial on buttonhole troubleshooting, you will learn how to fix automatic buttonhole problems. Check out these 9 tips for sewing buttonholes and what to do if your buttonhole foot gets stuck/not moving. Learn how to use a buttonhole foot and how to use a sewing machine to make easy DIY buttonholes.

I made some triangular bound buttonholes for the coat - so here is a small tutorial how to make them. Click on the images to enlarge them. T...

Learn how to easily sew a buttonhole with your sewing machine and a buttonhole foot! It's super easy and super fast and you'll have a beautiful buttonhole!

See how to sew a buttonhole on your machine on a home sewing machine. It's easier than you think - see photos for every little step!

The next step is inserting the zipper and the pocket. There are other ways of doing this, but this is what works for me. I did not make pattern pieces for the pocket, I seldom do for jacket pockets and go with pieces of fabric that are large enough and cut them in shape during the process. First step was basting the zipper into the window and stitch at the edges to sew the zipper in. The zipper after stitching and removing the basting threads. How it looks on the inside. For the part of the pocket that is attached to the lower zipper tape (never visible) I chose a cotton fabric that I sewed onto the zipper tape. Pressed downward The fabric that is attached to the top zipper tape is the fashion fabric, it will be visible when opening the zipper. Now I pinned the pocket lines to the two rectangles of fabric Stitched, cut in shape and the edges zigzagged A peek into the pocket. The fabric of the inner pocket is nog on the same grain as the jacket itself. To me that is of no importance, the pocket will not be open normally and it only serves the impression you get of the same fabric when you do open the pocket. For once I just don’t mind. With so many pictures this might look as a lot of work, but actually it isn’t complicated and it took me 45 minutes (looking at the time of the first photo and the last). One tip if you do this: work both pockets at the same time. Don’t do the first one and then the other. It will make sure both pockets/zippers are as identical as they can be. I always try to do that when there’s more than one of the same thing to sew (sleeves, cups for a bra, shoulder straps etc.)

Have you ever noticed how vintage dress patterns usually have side zips instead of the back zips found in most modern patterns? A well-made vintage dress will almost always have a side lapped closure - and a metal zip, of course. I think there's something so sophisticated about a perfectly-executed side zipper. It adds that lovely authentic touch to your retro sewing projects. Here's how! Sew the left side seam of your dress, leaving an opening for your zipper (the opening is generally 14" long). With a a side zip, your seam will be sewn about 2-3" above the zipper (below the armhole), left open for the length of the zip, and then sewn shut below it. Make sense? You're going to create a placket, which is basically just a little facing for your left side opening (that's the side that's lapped). This makes your seam allowance a little bigger and also stabilizes the lap. Cut an on-grain strip of your fabric that's 1-1/2" wide and as long as your zipper opening. If your fabric is filmsy or soft, you will probably want to interface the strip. A bit of silk organza works well for this. Now, pin the strip to the left side of your zipper opening, right sides together. Stitch the strip on with your usual 5/8" seam allowance. Here it is stitched: Trim and grade the seam allowances. The narrower seam allowance will be the strip. Turn the placket to the inside of the dress and press. You might want to put in some temporary diagonal basting to keep the strip in place after turning it in. Turn the right side seam allowance under 1/2". (NOT the full 5/8" of your seam allowance.) Pin the zipper to the left side of the seam allowance, aligning the folded edge right next to the teeth of the zipper. Using a zipper foot, stitch close to the folded edge, next to the teeth. Here's what your stitching will look like. Now, keeping the zipper closed, fold the left lapped side over the right side of your zipper. Pin in place along the left side, where the lap will be stitched. Now you can stitch the lap on your machine if you like. Use chalk to mark a line 1/2" away from the fold to maker your stitching line. Or use a foot with a gauge like this: Or - my preferred method - you can hand pick the lapped side. I've always found stitching a lapped zipper by machine to be somewhat frustrating - the zipper tab gets in the way, and it's hard to get a straight line even with a gauged foot. With a hand-picked zipper, you get so much control that the zipper always goes in perfectly the first time. To do this, unzip the zipper, keeping the lapped side pinned in place and pick stitch about 1/2" away from the lapped edge, as well as horizontally across the top and bottom of the lap. For a fantastic article on this method, click here. I ended up hand-picking the Background Dress zipper: I just adore the look of hand-picking in conjunction with a beautiful metal zip. Here's my lemon dress to refresh your memory: Hope this all makes sense! Please leave any questions in the comments. Update: It's easy to incorporate this into a dress that has a center back zip. You'll probably want to eliminate the center back seam by cutting the back pieces on a fold (make sure you eliminate the seam allowance first!). Then leave a 14" opening on the left side seam of your dress. Start the opening two inches down from the armhole. Insert your zipper as directed above. That's all!

Learn about different ways to cut open a buttonhole for a clean look. Each uses a different tool and would work best for different fabrics.