buttonhole stitch

{{short description|Stitch to reinforce edges or for decoration}}

Image:Embroidery buttonhole stitch perle cotton.jpg on cotton-linen fabric, United States, 1990s.]]

Image:Buttonhole stitch.gif

Image:Buttonhole scallops.jpg's Beeton's Book of NeedleworkBeeton, Isabella, Beeton's Book of Needlework, London, 1870]]

Buttonhole stitch and the related blanket stitch are hand-sewing stitches used in tailoring, embroidery, and needle lace-making.{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/Sarahs-Embroidery-Tutorials-Hand-Stitches-Everyone-ebook/dp/B07TTHDNWJ|title=Sarah’s Hand Embroidery Tutorials—Hand Embroidery Stitches for Everyone|last=Koll|first=Juby Aleyas|publisher=Roxy Mathew Koll and Juby Aleyas Koll|year=2019|isbn=978-93-5361-592-5|pages=452}}

Applications

Traditionally, this stitch has been used to secure the edges of buttonholes.{{Cite web|url=http://www.embroidery.rocksea.org/stitch/blanket-stitch/buttonhole-stitch/|title=Buttonhole Stitch|last=Sarah|date=2011-12-13|website=Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-17}} In addition to reinforcing buttonholes and preventing cut fabric from raveling, buttonhole stitches are used to make stems in crewel embroidery, 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 stitches, were a popular edging in the 19th century. Buttonhole stitches are also used in cutwork, including Broderie Anglaise, and form the basis for many forms of needlelace. 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 in London.{{cite news |title=A Stitch in Time: The Buttonhole Stitch and Blanket Stitch |first=Deanna Hall |last=West |date=July 30, 2018 |work=Interweave

|url=https://www.interweave.com/article/needlework/buttonhole-stitch-and-blanket-stitch/ }}

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

See also

References

{{reflist}}

Other References

  • Virginia Churchill Bath, Needlework in America, Viking Press, 1979 {{ISBN|0-670-50575-7}}
  • 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, {{ISBN|0-7134-4796-6}}.