Using A Vintage Sewing Machine: The Buttonholer cont'd.

Yesterday I covered making a basic buttonhole with the Buttonholer. Today I'll show how to make a buttonhole that is larger than the template.

You'll need to put the 1-1/16 inch template in the Buttonholer --either the straight or keyhole one.

Have your markings on the fabric for the buttonhole. I'm just doing a sample so I marked a one and a half inch buttonhole with beginning and ending marks.

Turn the Adjusting Knob so the Cloth Clamp is all the way forward and put the fabric under the clamp. The needle will be above the outer edge mark. Lower the presser bar.

Turn the Adjusting Knob so the needle comes forward and around to just start down the left side of the buttonhole --line the needle up with the second line in on the Cloth Clamp guide--this is the starting point.
Make a stitch and pull up the bobbin thread and then continue stitching.

Stitch down left side, around end, and up right side until the needle is at second line on the Cloth Clamp guide and even with the starting point on the left. (If you want this buttonhole sewn over double, you would cut the threads and repeat the steps so far. I'm not doing this for the demonstration).

Leave the needle down in the fabric and firmly hold the fabric down. Raise the presser bar while keeping a good hold on the fabric with the other hand. Turn the Adjusting Knob until Cloth Clamp moves all the way around is back at where you stopped stitching. Lower the presser bar.

Here I'm about to start this second part of stitching:

Stitch around till you are back at the left side where the stitches began, stitch a little on top of these stitches to secure them--and you're done!

My thread tails look like a mistake in the middle of this buttonhole but they're not --I just need sharper scissors for trimming them.

Making buttonholes like this takes practice.

Have extra time on your hands and want to try something challenging? I have just the thing for you--the Buttonholer can sew Monograming and Embroidery. When I first saw this in the old manual I said, "No, no way. I'm not doing this." This isn't even mentioned in the later manuals. But I reconsidered --after all using all these attachments was my personal challenge to learn more about how they were used and get better at using them. So I'm giving this a try.
For this you will need the 1-1/16 inch straight template in the Buttonholer. Mark the design you want on the fabric. It can't be more than 1/8 inch wide--that's the widest setting on the Bight.

You'll need a filler thread that matches your machine thread. The filler thread will be stitched over with the zig zag stitching. (It fills in the design). I'm using greenish sewing thread on the machine and DMC embroidery floss as my filler thread.

Turn the Adjusting Knob so the needle is at the back of the Cloth Clamp and about to start down the right hand side. Take a few stitches over your filler thread and secure it. (This is in the above photo).

While you sew hold the filler thread up at an angle:
Sew until you get to the second line on the Cloth Clamp guide. Now lower the needle into the right hand side of the design and raise the presser bar.

Turn the Adjusting Knob until the needle is again going down the right hand side at the back. Lower the bar and stitch again. You'll be repeating this for every inch!
To make the stitching vary in widths, stop and change the Bight settings. To turn curves you must stop with the needle at the outside of the curve, raise the presser bar, turn the fabric, and lower the presser bar. You must do this while keeping an eye on the guide lines too. (I said it was a challenge!)
My end result isn't perfect. Some of my filler thread didn't get caught in the stitching at one point and near the end I accidentally went past the second guide line so the buttonhole was about to curve around and threw my stitching off. Still, I think it's pretty good for a first attempt. Also it was much more fun than I expected. I'll probably give it another try sometime.

Would I buy a Buttonholer if I didn't have one? Yes!