Thursday, April 10, 2008

One finished buttonhole

I know what's holding me back - fear of doing the wrong thing. Because I haven't done this before, I'm not sure where I'm going. But I do know that once I've made a buttonhole, it's there forever.
four buttons
Here I am, laying out the jacket and thinking it should have only four buttons down the front and not the five I have put on previous jackets. The buttons are larger and the buttonholes will be more prominent so it may be too much to put all five buttons on. And no, I'm not doing this because I made one of them too dark - I can easily go get some more button forms to remedy that.
first finished buttonhole
So I made the first buttonhole at the neck. And it looks good on the outside! But if I don't always button the jacket up to the neck, you are mostly going to see the inside of it...
first finished buttonhole
... which looks huge, at least to me. I am thinking about running a bit of zigzag machine stitching around the buttonhole from the inside, knowing it will hardly show on the outside because of the type of fabric this is. The machine stitching will make the buttonhole sturdier and may cover up some of that floral fabric. Other than this issue, I have tried on the jacket and it fits nicely and feels even better, so I am pleased with it and I suppose I shouldn't worry about 4 buttonholes or 5.

5 comments:

teresa said...

I've been enjoying watching the process of this jacket as I follow your blog. I love how much effort you put into a single piece and it's very educational.

I had to post because I really hope you don't put a zig-zag stich around that buttonhole. I could not tell what you thought was wrong with it. It didn't look huge to me and looked great, I even followed the link to the flickr pic to see if I was missing something. I really think the zigzag is all wrong for this jacket. It's really looking great!

Angela said...

Don't do it! Well, at least not yet. I would counsel you to wait until you have the other button holes done to decide. I think it looks fabulous as it is. I predict that when the jacket is opened at the top, it will be a nice detail with enough visual weight to balance out the buttons themselves. But, of course, you will be the one wearing it. I have watched your progress on this project with great pleasure, and enjoy your blog tremendously.

JuliaR said...

tcarole and Angela - okay! I won't do it!! Thanks for caring enough to say so. :) I will make three more buttonholes the same way and then wear it for a while before I decide about extra stitching. Anyway, it was only supposed to be a template for the "real Chanel jacket" but I always put so much time and effort into these things that I hate to ruin them. Thanks again!

Ann Made Studio said...

I agree with the others, it looks great. Not too big at all from what I can see :) Nice work.

Anonymous said...

Fabric is so pretty and ladylike! Buttons are COOL, because they look like candy. Can't wait to see it modeled!