The buttonhole stitch is traditionally used for reinforcing buttonholes. The little knot at the top that is facing the hole where the button is pushed through helps to avoid breaking of the seam. In this video tutorial, you’ll learn how to make the buttonhole stitch.
Buttonhole stitch vs blanket stitch
The buttonhole stitch is sometimes also called blanket stitch and vice versa. However, for the stitch lexicon, I decided to use the names of these two stitches in accordance with their use. So the blanket stitch is the simple loop stitch that is very often used to clean up the edges of blankets. The buttonhole stitch with the tiny knot is the one tailors are using to make buttonholes.
I will also name all the variations of these stitches accordingly. Some stitch variations like the buttonhole wheel are actually made of blanket stitches and I will change the names for these variations in the stitch lexicon, too, to avoid confusion. Of course, I will add the alternative names, too, so that you can find it under both names.
This tutorial is part of the new lexicon of embroidery stitches.
The buttonhole stitch video tutorial
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The movement of the needle is sometimes hard to get across with a sketch or photograph. Video is a great way for learning embroidery stitches. On my Youtube channel, you can find many more embroidery tutorials. Every Sunday, I publish a brand new embroidery stitch tutorial. To get notified when a new video goes live, subscribe to my Youtube channel and click on the bell right beside the button.
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buttonhole stitch front 
buttonhole stitch back
More embroidery stitches…
If you want to see more embroidery stitch tutorials, you might like the embroidery stitch lexicon. You’ll find all 206 photo tutorials there. In addition, it also includes the stitch glossary where you can look for a specific stitch name with their translations and all of the brand new video tutorial posts!
If you are new to embroidery, I highly recommend the 7 days of stitches articles. It is a blog series where you can learn step by step and with a lot of explanations of how to do the most basic embroidery stitches.
Also, the beginner’s guide to embroidery helps you with all the other stuff like:
- which materials and tools you need
- how to attach the thread to the fabric before and after stitching
- what to do after stitching
Do you want more tips and tricks on hand embroidery?
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