HOW TO MAKE PERFECT BUTTON HOLES

Put your hand up if you dread sewing buttonholes. Most sewing machines have either a manual or automatic buttonhole setting that can make your life a whole lot easier.

My old machine had a manual 4 step buttonhole which meant I had to manually change the settings between each stage. It was simple to use but getting a consistently sized buttonhole was difficult.

Now my new machine has an Automatic buttonhole setting which uses a special buttonhole foot to measure the size of the buttons and makes a perfect buttonhole every time. I recently made a duvet cover with a button closures and fell in love with this little contraption.
It looks a little complicated but once you see how it works you’ll love using it too.
I’ve created a video to explain how to use it.

Yours may look slightly different but the theory behind how it works should be the same. It’s really quite a nifty little accessory.

How to use and Automatic Buttonhole Foot

How easy was that now you can create consistent and perfectly sized button holes every time.

TRIANGLE QUILT ALONG – BINDING

The Triangle Quilt is nearly finished all that’s left to do is bind the edges. Binding is the finishing touch to frame your quilted work of art. Choose fabric to blend in or contrast with your quilt depending on the finished look you’re after.

In the past I’ve been in so much of a rush to finish my quilt that I’ve machine sewn whatever bias binding I’ve had on hand just so my quilt will be ‘done’. This time I decided to try a more traditional technique one that is easier and gives a very neat result, ideal for beginners.

Before we get to the binding we need to trim away the excess batting. I’ve used the quilt top as a guide with scissors but if your edges are a little wonky you may want to mark a straight line with a ruler and then trim.

Here you can clearly see the layers of the quilt and how it’s constructed. I call it a quilt sandwich.

As an optional step you may want to sew a seam around the whole edge of the quilt very close to the edge. This is handy if there is not much quilting close to the edges and can help prevent the layers from shifting.

Making the binding strips

There are lots of styles of binding and techniques that can be used to bind a quilt for this project I’ve used straight grain double fold binding (sometimes called French binding).

That sounds pretty technical but basically it’s just a long strip of fabric on a straight grain (not an angle) folded in half so that it covers the quilt’s edge with two layers of fabric. This makes it very durable and the binding of choice for any quilt that will be used regularly.

Straight grain binding is only good for straight edged quilts if you want your binding to go around curves you will need to it on the bias (45 degree angle).

Most binding tutorials will show you how to the strips with a ruler and a rotary but because I’m super lazy I just ripped the fabric into strips.

I don’t have an issue with ripping fabric instead of cutting but others do so do whatever is comfortable for you.