Margaret showed him two black bone buttons.
“The top of the button will show how large to cut the buttonhole,” Sir Bodkin said. “Turn the screw until the blades cut a slit a tiny bit longer than the button top is wide. Test or try the size on a scrap of cloth before cutting the holes in your band.”
When Margaret had done this and the scissors were set just right, she slipped them over the edge at one end of the band where the buttonhole was to be and waited.
“Begin to cut one-quarter inch from the edge of the band. Follow a thread of the goods to cut the hole straight,” said Sir Bodkin. “Cut one hole at a time, then work it.”
Margaret cut the first hole. Sir Bodkin called a stout Stitcher and he was harnessed with black cotton thread, a small knot at one end.
“Now to your work!” the King said, “and don’t forget you begin at the end farthest away from the edge,—turning your work as you sew.”
He told Margaret to hold the buttonhole along her left forefinger with the starting end next the finger-tip and the top of the band towards her. Stitcher slipped between the two layers of cloth at the starting end and came out towards Margaret, a little distance away from the edge of the slit. Then Stitcher jumped along the side of the buttonhole to the other end, across the end under the goods, out and around back along the other side.
Bar half-way around