JMD Designs Home - Janet M. Davies - New Zealand - Buttonhole or Blanket Stitch Tutorial

Hand Stitched Buttonhole or Blanket Stitch Tutorial
Written and Designed by Janet M. Davies

Tutorial Index

1. Blanket or Buttonhole stitch : How to.

2. Turning a sharp corner or small circular shape.

3. Changing colour during a row of stitching
or starting a new length of thread.

4. Splicing two colours together.

5. Finishing against another row.

General Information

- Use quality 100% cotton fabric for applique.

- Use a strong bonding fusible webbing for applique. Janet recommends "Steam-a-seam".

- Adhere the applique parts to the background fabric in small stints and then buttonhole stitch. Do not adhere the whole quit and then sit down and buttonhole stitch for hours.

- Use a hoop while buttonhole stitching.

- Use sharp fine scissors for cutting your applique shapes from the fabric. Large or blunt scissors can make the fabric fray as you cut.

- The same principle applies when doing this stitch for general Needlework. But the edge of the applique shape would be your design line.

Buttonhole or Blanket stitch
This stitch is some times called Blanket stitch. Buttonhole and Blanket stitch are formed in the same way. The difference if that Blanket stitch has its spikes spaced apart more than the Buttonhole stitch with its spikes closer together.

1. Bring the needle out at the edge of the applique shape.	2. Put the needle down into the applique shape.
3. Bring the needle out at the edge of the shape through the background fabric and take thread under the needle. Make sure the needle is kept vertical to the edge of your shape.	4. When you pull the thread through the fabric make sure the thread being pulled is level with the fabric, not in the air. This makes sure the straight edge of the stitching formed sits flat and in a continuous flat straight stitch formation.
5. Now bring the needle down at the X and out at the O. Continue the above steps the produce a row of Buttonhole
Turning a sharp corner or small circular shape. This catching down technique will stop the corner stitching from flopping back over onto the applique shape at a corner or on a small circular shape.
1. Make a stitch at the corner at an angle.	2. Take the needle through to the back of the fabric on the right hand side of the loop.
3. Pull thread through so the front sits flat.	4. On the back of the fabric take the needle under last stitch made keeping thread on the back of the fabric.
5. Now take the needle up through the fabric and out where shown above.	6. Then keep stitching the Buttonhole stitching as normal.
7. Note in the above photo the corner stitch is on an angle and slightly shorter.	8. Note in the above photo the stitches get slightly shorter towards the narrow point.
Changing colour during a row of stitching or starting a new length of thread.
1. Take the needle down into the fabric but leave a small loop of green thread on top of the fabric. Cut off the thread on the back leaving about a 2 inch green tail. Leave tail hanging for now.	2. With the new pink colour in your needle bring the needle up inside the loop at the edge of the applique shape.
3. Pull needle with the pink thread out through the loop and then tighten up the green loop from pulling on it's tail at back of fabric. Secure the tail to the back of your fabric through past stitching.	4. Now carry on stitching with your new colour.
Splicing two colours together.
1. Some times we want to join two colours together. These 2 photos show another method besides the set of photos above.	2.
Finishing against another row.
1. Bring the needle out and take back into the fabric on the outside of the loop.	2.
3.

The instructions in JMD Designs retail pattern packs are a lot more
detailed than what is given here in this tutorial above.

The designs/patterns on this page may be used for free,
for your personal non profit use only. They are not to be copied or cut and pasted into other websites. Links to this website are more than welcome. Thanks