Crash course on buttonholes

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Buttonholes are a breeze with today’s modern sewing machines, especially if they come with the niﬅy long buttonhole foot which holds the button in the back so the hole you stitch is made to ﬁt perfectly.

The key to successful buttonholes is the right mix of a new sharp needle, fabric, and support such as interfacing. Any fabric can have buttonholes made in it, from ﬁne chiﬀons to stretchy knits, but the area must be stabilised with interfacing or similar.
All buttonholes should have some sort of stabiliser included. This may be the interfacing between facing and main fabric, a special waist banding stiﬀener or a layer of tear-away or soluble stabiliser. This prevents puckering or pulling when stitching and helps keep the area stable when buttoned up.
For very ﬁne fabrics, place an additional layer of soluble stabiliser underneath the fabric to prevent it from being pulled down into the feed dogs
Make sure your needle is sharp as buttonholes are made with lots of compact zig zag stitches (satin stitch) worked closely together, and pierce through three or more layers.

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