And 40 Buttonholes Later . . . .

I had two more shirts for Mr. SDSC and two for me!  A most productive week indeed!  As we would say in the UK - I've been cooking on gas!!!

Mr. SDSC was so pleased with his last shirt, that I thought I would make a couple more to practice techniques before I start playing around with the pattern and making it a better fit.  I used the same pattern, Kwik Sew 3422, and other than being more accurate with edge stitching a using a new foot for my Pfaff for the topstitching (boy that foot is spot on!), not much else changed. 

The first shirt is made from a gorgeous cotton with width-ways stripes, so I cut the pattern pieces out accordingly - I did not want horizontal stripes.  The thicker blue/grey stripe is woven like satin ribbon and has a different finish - it looks rather classy.

In retrospect, I think that the buttons may be a little big - they are 13mm, but I am thrilled with the buttonholes again (used the Featherweight).

The second shirt is a plain 100% cotton - slightly thicker fabric (I have a feeling it may actually be quilting cotton) and will make a greater cooler weather shirt.

 

Both shirts have 'grandad' collars which I think really suit him.  I will probably put some proper collars on the next shirts (although I have a black stretch poplin version already cut out).  I can cut one of these shirts out from 2m of 45" fabric and each one uses 12 buttons.  I must try and find somewhere where I can buy a 'bag' of buttons, as I am using rather a lot, so it is quite an inexpensive make.  You may have noted some blue marker around the buttonholes - the shirts have had to be washed to get this out - what do you use for marking buttons and buttonholes?  I do have a pen that fades within a day or two, so that may be better.

I made myself two more Singer Shapely Blouses, but the blue marker shows up so much on those that they cannot be photographed just yet!  They use 8 buttons each - I placed them 2" apart, and will probably go for 3" on the next versions, so all-in-all, four shirts = 40 buttons and buttonholes.  Phew!

So, alterations, the yoke on these shirts is somewhat flat in comparison to the roundness of Mr. SDSC adn I have read that you shouldn't alter them - but alter the backs and front pieces instead.  I will have to do some more research on this as the yoke appears to be (to me) where the fitting issues are.  In any case, they are not significant enough to cause a problem, and I know that these shirts will be worn to death!

A quick word before I go about divas models.  I am happy to make Mr. SDSC shirts, I am even happy to go out and purchase the fabric (it is tough but someone has to do it!), but I do expect some co-operation when it comes to photographing the finished garment.  This is what I was faced with today . . . .

A little less attitude next time methinks . . . . .

More pics on Flickr should you be interested!

Buttonholes - Featherweight Style

Picture the scene . . . I had almost completed the first shirt for Mr. SDSC, and all I needed to do was add the button and buttonholes.  I checked out how to make the buttonholes on my Pfaff 2020 Tiptronic machine.  Put some test fabric under the foot and voila.  What a nightmare.  I was so disappointed.  Despite an intertubes search, I could not find any top-tips, and the manual was sadly lacking.  I considered chatting up Mr. SDSC and seeing how he felt about me spending @$1000 on a new machine that would make fancy smancy buttonholes, then thought how I would prefer to spend it on fabric instead, and so I dragged out my lovely Singer Featherweight.

It is in really good condition, and I knew it would work with my singer buttonhole attachment:

 

I just love how it all fits into the space age container.  This attachment cost about $25 and made perfect buttonholes on the shirt.

OK, so maybe it is a little hard to see white buttonholes on white stripey fabric with white buttons, but I am trying!

All-in-all I am thilled with these buttonholes - the time it took to set up this machine and buttonholer took only a few minutes - and will use this set up in future.  I know that I am lucky to have more than one machine, but it makes you realize why professional dressmakers (and non-professionals as well) have dedicated machines for different processes.  It is also interesting that a machine that it over 60yrs old and a buttonholer of about the same age still make perfect buttonholes.  I love my Pfaff in so many ways, but buttonholes are not its speciality!

What about you?  Do you have any equipment/notions that you find are far superior to their modern day counterparts?