Taunton's Threads - For people who love to sew
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An excerpt fom the book: Sewing 911 Bungled Buttonholes With creative solutions, most mistakes can be salvaged Buttonholes are typically the last major hurdle that we jump over as we complete a garment. We are often tired and antsy by the time we get to them, so it's no wonder that they sometimes come out wrong. You needn't let a bad buttonhole deprive you of the pleasure of wearing your garment, however. Here are some solutions. Solution For severed bar tacks at the end of the buttonhole It is so easy to slash through the bar tack or even through the garment when you open up buttonholes. To fix, mend the slash in the fabric as described in chapter 1. Then use trim, such as small appliqués, beads, brass charms, buttons, or points, on all of the buttonholes in the same manner.
Solution Rip and resew an uncut buttonhole This is for when you sewed it in the wrong place or if your machine malfunctioned. Ripping out a machine buttonhole is tremendously tedious, but it can be done. Put on your patience cap, and work from the back to avoid marring the right side of the garment. Using a small seam ripper, lift and cut the stitches, then use tweezers to pull out the threads. Also, you can reach inside between the front and front facing with a seam ripper to remove stitches.
If the buttonholes are too big If the buttonholes are too big for the buttons or buttonholes have stretched with wear, use a few small hand stitches on the wrong side of the buttonhole at each end to shorten the buttonhole. Solution For buttonholes on knits that look wobbly and rippled Even when you carefully apply interfacing to the closure areas of knit garments, buttonholes will still often stretch and wobble, particularly over time, as the interfacing softens with wear and cleaning. Here are some ways to fix that. Cord them From the wrong side, run a needle and doubled heavy thread, such as upholstery, quilting, embroidery, or buttonhole twist, under one row of satin stitches, leaving several inches of tail at the beginning. Next, turn the corner at the end of the buttonhole, and run the needle under the other side of the satin stitches. Secure the cording ends.
Slip 1/4-in. strips of fusible web or fusible interfacing (with the fusing agent toward the facing) between the front and the facing as close as possible to the buttonhole stitches. Gently pull the buttonhole out straight with your fingers to eliminate the ripples, or pin it straight on your ironing board. Press. Stiffen and overstitch Place a piece of organza or a double layer of fine nylon net in a similar color on the underside of the buttonhole. Overstitch with a zigzag stitch along each side of the buttonhole. Alternately, you could overstitch by hand. Trim the stabilizer close to the stitching. This method works well on sheers, too.
Solution Botched bound buttonholes No matter how good yours are or how many times you've made them, bound buttonholes are fraught with peril. Like their larger cousins, double-welt pockets, bound buttonholes can come out with uneven lip widths, puckers, holes, and fraying at the ends, and they can wind up uneven in length with one another or unevenly spaced on the garment. If there are puckers at the ends Check that you have clipped closely enough, at a diagonal, from the center of the two rows of stitching to the ends of the stitching, like an "X" shape. Do not be afraid to clip right up to the ends of the stitches. If you sewed the short ends of the buttonhole in the shape of a rectangle, rip out the short ends of the stitching and leave it out. Overstitch the long ends for durability. Secure the triangles at the ends of the buttonhole with small hand or machine stitches as usual, and gently re-press. Often these measures will remove puckers at the ends.
In this case, you can typically rip out the stitches that hold the welts in place and restitch them. You may also have to make the new bound buttonholes slightly longer and wider than the originals if the original stitching has marred the fabric.
Solution DOA buttonholes Sometimes buttonholes simply can't be saved, but we can bury them with dignity. Cover them Using a decorative fabric patch or a piece of trim, sew new buttonholes by machine over the patches. Alternately, sew the button on the overlap over the patches, and use another fastener between the top and bottom layers of the opening. Cover the entire injured center front area You could cover the area with a graft of trim a bit wider than the width of the buttonholes plus the distance between the buttonhole and the center front. Or you could sew on a reversed facing to look like a contrast band.
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