Now you are ready to commence to work the buttonhole. Thread a sewing needle with white cotton (say No. 40), make a knot, and just to fasten your thread to your work put your needle in on the wrong side just below the running stitches, at the inner end of the buttonhole, picking up one thickness of material only, and bring it out on the right side of your work between the edges of the buttonhole.
MAKING A BUTTONHOLE.
Buttonholes are always worked on the right side of the work, and are worked from left to right. To make the first stitch (after fastening your cotton on as above), place the needle downwards through the buttonhole, and put it in just where you put it at first, only this time right through both thicknesses of material.
When you have your needle in this position, place your cotton round it exactly as the little illustration shows it placed, pull your needle out, and you will find that you have made a knotted stitch, which must be pulled up so that the knot comes right at the edge of the buttonhole; this completes one stitch, and you must work a row of these stitches right along, making the ends of the stitches even to a thread.
The round end is made in the same way that you do oversewing, and each stitch must be made the same length as the buttonhole stitches, and taken round to form a half-circle at the end of the hole; the lower part of the little illustration shows how the needle is placed for this.
Work the second side in the same way as the first, then for the square end take a couple of ordinary back stitches right over the entire width of the worked buttonhole (from the lower edge of the stitches on one side to the lower edge of the stitches on the other), and work a row of buttonhole stitches across the end of the buttonhole, bringing the knots just over the bar of stitches you have just made across. This completes your buttonhole.
All that now remains to be done is the feather-stitching, and for the little girl who has not attempted this stitch before, we are giving an illustration showing exactly how it should be made.
This is worked from right to left. If you look carefully at the illustration you will see that the thread is always brought round to the front of the needle before making a stitch, and for the upper part a small stitch is taken downwards towards you, and for the lower part a stitch of the same length is taken turning upwards towards you. The feather-stitching should be worked just over the hemming line, and this will serve as a guide for keeping it straight; the bottom of the top stitch should come just above the hemming line, and the top of the lower stitch just below it. The illustration clearly shows where the feather-stitching should be added.
You run and hem from right to left,