A Bevy of Buttonholes, Daygown Sew Along week 2

Daygown of Nelona, pattern is Gingersnaps Daygowns, Book 3

This week my lot in life seemed to be making buttonholes on daygowns. I had a fluffy blue Nelona daygown finished except for buttons and buttonholes and the assignment for week 2 of the OFB Daygown Sew Along was to make 5 hand worked buttonholes. Now, I have always dreaded making buttonholes. I don't know why, but there are certain things in sewing that I don't like: buttonholes, plackets, setting in sleeves, and piping come to mind. My distaste for buttonhole making has been lessened since I got my Viking Designer 1 (18 months ago). It has a sensor buttonhole foot which makes beautiful buttonholes just by typing in the size of the button in mm. However, occasionally even this technological wonder lets me down, if the place I'm stitching the buttonhole is uneven. Note that it always works perfectly when stitching on scraps!

My machine made buttonhole

The fluffy daygown has been hanging there waiting to be finished so I could take some pictures of Andy in it. I wanted to do them by machine, but I wanted them to look tiny and heirloom-y. I experimented with the buttonhole choices I have and found a really nice, delicate one that imitates a hand buttonhole stitch and is narrow. I am very happy with how they turned out and this morning I took pictures of Andy in the gown.

My handmade buttonhole

I have been trying to find time to do the OFB lesson since it was posted last Friday. The planets came into alignment on Wednesday evening. Andy was asleep, so I put him down in the playpen on the screened porch and grabbed my daygown supplies. I was able to complete all 5 buttonholes in 1 hour. It was beautiful outside, cool and breezy. I am really enjoying the hand stitching. I usually do much of my stitching by machine, but I am finding the hand work to be relaxing and I think I will do more of it in the future. It's great to be able to stitch by hand sitting outside, quiet. I am super proud of these buttonholes. They are very delicate and quite sturdy. My stitches are small and even. I have to give credit to Jeannie at OFB for her excellent directions. I had done buttonholes by hand before, but I wasn't doing them the right way. Just in time, I'm ready for lesson 3 tomorrow!