Cute as a button [hole]

I played.  I fiddled and faffed.  There are a LOT of variables on that buttonholer:

1. length of buttonhole.  That’s easy
2. density of stitches.  Mostly to taste, but needs to be in balance
3. width of ‘bight’, basically the zigzag width
4. width of the hole in the middle

Obviously the thread tension also needs adjustment…

I was very happy with the first versions, but they weren’t perfect, and the bobbin thread kept snarling up and nesting.  A needle or two broke.  Swearing was done.  I noticed that most of the snagging and nesting was happening at the same place in the buttonhole cycle.  A-ha!  Problem with the attachment not the machine perhaps?

I went back online, googled, read some stuff.  Not much helped.  Then I contacted the fabulous Hevsi on FB, a wondrously talented seamstress and vintage machine buff.  She suggested taking the casing off and cleaning off any old thickened oil…lo and behold, there were some nasty clumps of what looked like earwax lurking in the mechanism.

I pulled a face, and handed it off to the wife, who loves messing with oily stuff, and is nowhere near as ham-fisted as I am!

She faffed a bit, murmuring sweet nothings to the frabjous mechanisms revealed in this little gadget, then oiled it, and gave it back to me.

Much better!  It still took half a dozen more slight alterations to get everything in balance, but look at the results!

Wrong side- look at all the rejects and the nesting!

Right side, the favourite is circled

I’m sure most of you could do even better, but I’m wasting too much thread, and I want to finish this thing! lol

I also played and made a smaller rosette, my latest favourite quick make.  Shoe trim anyone?

The missus was feeling  a bit miserable tonight, so I cheered her up in foolproof style:

Do you show your love via cake?  I find it’s near foolproof!