Tutorial - Making buttonholes

How to sew a partial button placket & make your buttonholes

Starting with the creation of the partial button placket for the Sydney Ikatee romper pattern, we offer you a precise and reliable technique for successfully making all your partial button plackets.

Step by step we show you exactly how to do it.

The buttonhole is made as a garment finish

Most machines offer buttonhole embroidery programs and appropriate presser feet that are sold with the machine; refer to each machine's manual for specifics.

A buttonhole is made according to the following standard steps:

1. As a preamble, fine materials or knits must be reinforced on the reverse side with a fine heat-sealed fabric (for example, on the back of the button placket, etc.)
2. Mark the locations of the buttonholes; their middle and ends. The length of the buttonhole is determined by the size of the button + 1 mm on each side to ensure the button passes easily through.
3. Set the special buttonhole presser foot (here my ©Bernina model) to the desired buttonhole length (= button diameter +2mm max).
4. Start your machine's buttonhole program; refer to each machine's manual for specifics. Buttonholes are generally made in 4 steps (lock stitch, front row of zigzag stitching, facing row of zigzag stitching, and lock stitch opposite the first). Raise the presser foot and trim any excess threads at the beginning and end of the stitching. Illustrations below are viewed from the right and wrong sides.
5. Open the buttonholes with a seam ripper or very fine-tipped scissors. To do this, insert the tip between the two rows of stitches, after the backstitching, then cut to the opposite backstitching. Do not force too hard or you risk cutting the backstitching.
6. Mark the position of the buttons opposite each other.
7. Sew on the buttons.

Details:

Buttonholes are made vertically on shirts and blouses except for the highest one which is made horizontally), horizontally on belts and cuffs.

Which side should buttons and buttonholes be sewn on?

Buttonholes are made on the right button placket (when the garment is worn) for girls, and the left placket for boys. Therefore, buttons are sewn on the left placket for girls, and the right placket for boys.