Here's a hint. It comes in this beautiful space age Judy Jetson pink box. I get such a kick out of the box alone. This box came with my first Singer 500a, AKA The Rocketeer. Thanks Donna! Inside is the Singer Buttonholer and it makes the most beautiful buttonholes on the planet! And I've owned TOL Berninas forever and thought that they made the best buttonholes, until now.
I wasn't quite sure how to use the buttonholer, but I remembered that I saw a video that Brian Remlinger from BrianSews put together about buttonholers. It was very helpful to understand the finer points on how to use this attachment.
I'm not sure I would have known to make a second pass around the buttonhole with the attachment to get a very nicely filled in satin stitch without watching his video. This buttonhole was made with just regular Gutermann sewing thread. Doesn't it look nice?
And by the way, if you don't already have one of these buttonhole chisels, you MUST go get one for yourself. Nothing cuts open a buttonhole better and more accurately. I never have any fear of cutting my threads when I use this. I've had it for about 22 years and it is still super sharp so you have to be very careful with it.
My husband is very entertaining. You can always tell when he takes my picture because, first it's always taken from an angle well above my height--he's 13" taller than I am, second is that I'm usually cracking up and not ready to be photographed. Anyway, didn't this jacket that I almost gave up on come out nice? Everything I used came from the stash including the clashing, I mean contrasting buttons and the thread that didn't match. I'm determined not to buy much of anything for sewing until the Patternreview.com New York City get-together this May. That means I need to stay away from the downtown garment district. That place is dangerous for my pocketbook and stash storage space.
This jacket is very lightweight and won't keep me warm, however, it will help to add a more polished look to my new wardrobe. I had forgotton how much I like this pattern. Does anyone else see a potential blouse pattern from this? Remove the flaps, change the armhole and sleeves, square off the hemline and make a pointed collar, keep or remove the yoke. . . . I see pattern drafting in my future.
You're absolutely right! Great buttonhole. I have a buttonhole attachment for my old singer. Maybe I should investigate it. I don't like the automatic buttonholes on the new machines. I've always preferred the old way of doing them when you turn the fabric instead of the machine stitching backwards. Great 'happy snaps' too.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more, best buttonholes ever! and did you know the straight shank version will work on other machines. I practically have a collection of them here in the studio because I cannot resist the "bullet" box:)
ReplyDeleteYou did such a fabulous job on this. The BHs are beautiful and that pink case, just wow!
ReplyDeleteGreat looking jacket! Those old buttonholers are terrific. I have one for each of my vintage machines.
ReplyDeleteNice, nice nice! I too like the buttonholes the old 401A makes. The oldies are an awful lot of fun and so well built.
ReplyDeleteThey do truly last forever if kept well serviced. I love my chisel too.
You true sewers just crack me up! Oh, just make a different sleeve, add a yoke here, take off the collar. I can just barely hem things straight!
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the chisel. I inherited one in my mom's sewing stuff, but didn't know what it was!
Yes, very nice jacket!!
I just got one of those things from my friend who spends a lot of time at the Goodwill warehouse. I paid her $5 for it and it is an aqua one. I don't know if it will fit on any of my machines which are mostly Bernina. Do you know?
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Chris
I'm pretty sure that Singer only made the bullet/clamshell/spaceship shaped boxed buttonholers in green and pink. People use other names to describe the shade of the box, but pink and green are popular descriptions as well. Yours is probably the green one which is made for short shank machines. The pink one I have is made for the slant shank machine. I use it on my Singer 500a Rocketeer.
DeleteOh, what a memory your blog has brought back to me. Thanks!! My mother had a button hole attachment for her treadle Singer sewing machine that looked a lot like this. Hers was in a green case that looked just like this case. She was so proud when she got this. I remember well it was over 40 years ago!
ReplyDelete