SAL: buttonhole edge

Today I traced the buttonhole cushion edge and the edge of the cushion pattern itself onto my fabric (you will have done this at the beginning). It matched up pretty well with my stitched bits, so I was pleased about that!

I have started stitching. I wasn’t sure whether to stitch clockwise or anticlockwise, (with the rolled edge on the right – or the bottom as shown here – as I am left-handed) but remembered that I usually stitch edges anticlockwise. Thinking about it, this is stitching my buttonhole in the opposite direction than I used for the petals right at the beginning. But this time it seems to work ok. I think the moral of the story is to stitch your buttonhole in whatever direction looks best at the time!

The thing that I think people often find difficult is knowing how to handle the scallop corners. It gets very narrow and there’s this sharp angle, all in the one place. So how does one make sure that its going to be ok, and for the sake of the people doing the runner (who will have to cut right to the edge of the buttonhole stitching) that the fabric will be held well enough not to fray?

This is how I have stitched it. As I’m doing the cushion, I won’t be cutting to this edge – I will have a seam just outside it instead.

If I was doing the runner, the scallops go the other way, being convex instead of concave – meaning that the rolled edge is on the outside point of the scallop, and the inside curve of the scallop. So apart from the fact that the buttonhole rolled edge would be on the other side of the stitching, I’d stitch it similarly for the runner: with stitches close together, angling them so that they are approximately perpendicular to the curve of the scallop, and keeping them as close together as possible at the point, without being ridiculous.

If you are doing the runner, please remember that the buttonhole rolled edge needs to be at the outside edge of the runner. You will be cutting to the edge of this buttonhole stitching at the end.

If you’re doing the cushion, the buttonhole rolled edge still needs to be at the outside edge, but you won’t be cutting to the edge of it. We’ll be doing a nifty seam outside it instead, and just sewing the fringe to the edge of the buttonholing to make it look like its a scalloped edge, but it won’t be. All will be revealed in good time if this makes no sense to you yet! 🙂

There’s a lot of buttonholing to be done in this edging, so please excuse me if I don’t have it finished by tomorrow! Oh, and I just remembered that I forgot to buy a zip and a cushion insert at the shops today. Oh well, next time I go to the shops I’ll try to remember!

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