Buttonhole

A buttonhole is a small, dense rectangle of zigzag stitching around a slit, sized so the button can pass through snugly but not loosely. Most domestic machines will do this in one automatic step now, sewing both long sides and both bar tacks in sequence — but the machine only handles the stitching. Interfacing the area first and cutting the slit last are still on you, and both matter more than people expect.

My sizing rule: button diameter plus button thickness, plus a hair. Too tight and you'll blow out the end forcing the button through; too loose and it gaps open under any strain. I always interface the buttonhole area before stitching — without it, buttonholes on anything lighter than a mid-weight cotton tend to stretch and distort the first time you use them.

The part that still makes me nervous every time: cutting the slit open. I use small, sharp embroidery scissors and cut from the center outward toward each bar tack, stopping just short of the stitching — one slip and you've clipped through the reinforcement.

How I do it:

1. Fuse interfacing to the wrong side of the buttonhole area before doing anything else.
2. Mark the buttonhole length precisely — button diameter plus thickness.
3. Stitch the buttonhole using the machine's buttonhole function or a manual four-step zigzag sequence.
4. Insert a pin across each bar tack as a stop-guard, then cut the slit open from the center outward with sharp, pointed scissors.