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One step buttonhole foot
Struggling with making a buttonhole on your sewing machine? Here's a quick and simple guide to how to use a one-step buttonhole foot!
Besides being perfect for handmade garments, buttonholes are excellent for fastening up bags, pillows, duvet covers and even soft homewares! Take a look at the tips in the blue text at the bottom of this page for all the key things to know.
In the video, I will also show you how to stitch a button on your machine if you don't have a setting on your model for doing this.
For a small breakdown of all the different buttonholes, take a look at Buttons and Buttonholes 101 techniques page here.
- Most computerized machines come with this kind of foot.
- A button fits into the foot to help dictate the size of the finished buttonhole – simple!
- Remember to pull down a bar on your machine towards the back of your sewing machine needle, once your foot is fitted and before you start to sew. This bar is a sensor, and it helps the machine to figure out the distance to stitch backwards and forwards.
- Buttonholes are made with very narrow zigzag stitches, and the short zigzag stitches at the ends of the buttonhole are called bar-tacks. While zigzag stitches are excellent for finishing off and securing raw edges of fabric (which is what you will have after you cut through the centre of the buttonhole), they allow the machine to work with the natural texture and pile of the fabric.
- Always prepare a buttonhole for a garment or item by stitching a practice buttonhole on a scrap piece of the same fabric. This not only allows you to see the size of the finished buttonhole and how it will look (and if you may need to change the size of your button!), but also how well the buttonhole will sew with your particular fabric.
- If you are using a finer fabric, I recommend placing a little bit of tearaway stabilizer behind the area. This will stop the fabric from shifting while you sew. Once you've finished, simply tear it away carefully.
- Use a quick unpick/seam ripper or a small, sharp pair of embroidery scissors to cut through the middle of the buttonhole once you've finished stitching. Make sure to cut through the fabric only, and stay clear of the stitching.
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