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Buttonhole Stitch Book Followup One

A group of local book art lovers finished an OLLI class last week and created some beautiful model books in preparation for their final book. Some had never made a book and I don’t think any had sewn the buttonhole stitch so there was a lot to learn.


The model had paper covers but the second book will have board covers and they chose the design for the spine openings.


The following photos are a review of the start of the buttonhole stitch. (Ignore the slit in the spine as I will unpick the demo and do the final sewing through the slit)

1) Insert the needle and thread into the valley of the leftmost section. Pull the thread through leaving a tail of about 3 inches. Pull the thread straight up and wrap over the top of the section to the inside.


2) Tie off near the original hole and then enter that same hole with the needle and thread.


3) Pull the needle and thread through and pull the thread behind the first vertical stitch, right to left.


4) Pull the thread through and over to the next section on the right. Enter the hole.


5) Pull the thread through leaving a bit of a loop in the thread exiting the first hole; come up underneath and through this loop and cross over the top of the thread before entering the next hole.



6) To finish off this stitch pull the loop snug before pulling the thread completely through the next hole in the next section to the right. Repeat these steps until the last section and after looping over the top of the last section re-enter the hole and tie off inside.

Hope this makes sense!

6 replies
  1. Donna Gephart
    Donna Gephart says:

    Great post Michele! I love the new book you bought in Ashland. Good, clear photos of the buttonhole stitch. Can’t wait to see the final books.

    Donna

    Reply
    • Michele
      Michele says:

      I love to support book artists by purchasing their books. Two book artists had studios in the Gallery I visited in Ashland.

      Reply
  2. Edge Gerring
    Edge Gerring says:

    Thank you, Michelle ! I notice you have all your sections standing inside the spine while you are sewing. Does this help keep them well aligned and the sewing snug better than adding one at a time as you sew ? Edge

    Reply
    • Michele
      Michele says:

      The photos show the second sewing (along the bottom), the first sewing was already done so the sections are already set in place. However, I did put all sections in place when I did the first sewing; it served to help me determine the tension of the thread between sections. I was able to get things really snug.

      Reply
      • Edge Gerring
        Edge Gerring says:

        I see I should have waited for your reply. I’m new to this !
        I’ve done the top and bottom of the two hole book and am experimenting with the center. I haven’t been able yet to find instructions on line. Will check the NORBAG library for a book that shows it at the meeting.

        Reply

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