Buttonhole stitch and the related blanket stitch are hand-

sewing Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fab ...

stitches used in

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

ing,

embroidery Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen ...

, and

needle lace Needle lace is a type of lace created using a needle and thread to stitch up hundreds of small stitches to form the lace itself. In its purest form, the only equipment and materials used are a needle, thread and scissors. The origins of need ...

-making.

Applications

Traditionally, this stitch has been used to secure the edges of buttonholes. In addition to reinforcing buttonholes and preventing cut fabric from raveling, buttonhole stitches are used to make stems in

crewel embroidery Crewel embroidery, or crewelwork, is a type of surface embroidery using wool. A wide variety of different embroidery stitches are used to follow a design outline applied to the fabric. The technique is at least a thousand years old. Crewel embro ...

, to make sewn eyelets, to attach applique to ground fabric, and as couching stitches. Buttonhole stitch scallops, usually raised or padded by rows of straight or

chain stitch Chain stitch is a sewing and embroidery technique in which a series of looped stitches form a chain-like pattern. Chain stitch is an ancient craft – examples of surviving Chinese chain stitch embroidery worked in silk thread have been dated ...

es, were a popular edging in the 19th century. Buttonhole stitches are also used in

cutwork Cutwork or cut work, also known as ''punto tagliato'' in Italian, is a needlework technique in which portions of a textile, typically cotton or linen, are cut away and the resulting "hole" is reinforced and filled with embroidery or needle lace. ...

, including Broderie Anglaise, and form the basis for many forms of

needlelace Needle lace is a type of lace created using a needle and thread to stitch up hundreds of small stitches to form the lace itself. In its purest form, the only equipment and materials used are a needle, thread and scissors. The origins of needl ...

. This stitch is well represented on 16th- and 17th-century whitework items. The buttonhole stitch appeared on the Jane Bostocke sampler (1598) which is the earliest, signed sampler known to date and is presently housed in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

in London.

Variants

Examples of buttonhole or blanket stitches include: *Blanket stitch *Buttonhole stitch *Closed buttonhole stitch, in which the tops of the stitch touch to form triangles Image:Detached buttonhole stitch.gif, Detached buttonhole stitch Image:Tailors buttonhole stitch.jpg, Tailor's buttonhole stitch Image:Buttonhole variations.jpg, Buttonhole stitch variations Image:Buttonhole shading.gif, Buttonhole shading

References

Other References

*Virginia Churchill Bath, ''Needlework in America'', Viking Press, 1979 *S.F.A. Caulfield and B.C. Saward, ''The Dictionary of Needlework'', 1885. *Mrs. Archibald Christie. ''Samplers and Stitches, a handbook of the embroiderer's art'', London 1920, 1989 facsimile: Batsford, .

External links

* {{sewing Embroidery stitches Sewing stitches

Applications

Variants

See also

References

Other References

External links