Bound Buttonholes: Completing the Buttonhole | Video
In this fifth installment of the Bound Buttonhole series, instructor Daryl Lancaster demonstrates the final steps of creating the buttonhole: cutting into the garment fabric and securing the lips in their finished position.
First, cut along the buttonhole lip patch’s center basted line. Work with small, pointed, sharp scissors. This separates the lips.
Then cut the buttonhole opening in the garment. Working from the garment’s wrong side, cut along the middle of the placement marking, and clip into the corners of the stitched rectangle. Be sure to clip all the way to the corners, but don’t cut through any of the lip layers on the right side. This creates seam allowances on all four sides of the rectangular opening.
Push the lip seam allowances to the garment’s wrong side, and tuck the end triangles to the wrong side as well. Secure the buttonhole ends by stitching the end triangles to the end seam allowances. Be sure the lips are perfectly abutted and even; if they are not even, the whole buttonhole will be askew.
This completes the buttonhole process on the garment’s right side. Gently remove all the basting stitches. Proceed with the garment construction following the pattern instructions.
You’ll need to cut windows in the the garment facing, to make buttonhole openings behind the bound buttonholes. Daryl teaches that technique in “Finishing the Buttonhole’s Wrong Side.”
Threads Insiders can view the full buttonhole-making process in these videos:
“Bound Buttonholes: Introduction | Video”
“Marking the Buttonhole Placement”
“Creating the Buttonhole Lips”
“Attaching the Lips to the Garment”
“Finishing the Buttonhole’s Wrong Side”
To follow the steps in print, look for Daryl’s article “Bound Buttonholes for All,” Threads #197, June/July 2018.
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Do you interface or underline your facing and then add your buttonhole interfacing?
If you want to interface the garment itself and/or the facing, do that before beginning this process. As you can see here, Daryl has interfaced the entire front area where the buttonholes are place. In "Finishing the Buttonhole's Wrong Side" (see link above for this video), you'll notice that she did not interface the facing piece, but when she creates "windows" to back the buttonholes, she applies interfacing around the windows' edges. It's important to support the buttonhole area, but how much interfacing you apply there and elsewhere in the garment depends on the fabric you're using.
this is a great video! It is very similar to making double welt pockets?
I just made a wool coat with those and wish I would have watched this video because I would have done some taylor tacks and basting lines!