ZJ Humbach

Using a Button Hole Cutter

ZJ Humbach
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Description

Cutting open buttonholes can be tricky, no matter what size or style. ZJ Humbach shows you how to easily cut open buttonholes using a buttonhole cutter.

Types of Cutters

Buttonhole cutters come in two main types — straight and circular. The straight buttonhole cutter is typically found in a standard 12 mm size, or roughly ½”. It has a sharp, beveled head allowing it to easily cut through most fabrics. The circular buttonhole cutter is typically found in a standard 3mm size and can be used to open the top of keyhole buttonholes.

Types of Buttonholes

While there may be numerous types and sizes of buttonholes- from rounded to corded, keyhole to bound buttonholes, the two main types of buttonhole cutters can be used for nearly every buttonhole. The straight cutter can be used on any size buttonhole, ½” and up, by simply moving the cutter down the buttonhole to repeat the cutting process.

Protect Your Surface

As ZJ demonstrates, buttonhole cutters are used by either pressing down on the cutter or using a small rubber mallet. Either method requires that you protect your work surface before using the buttonhole cutter. Many buttonhole cutter sets will come with a small piece of wood that can be placed under the fabric and moved to each new buttonhole as you cut. ZJ also shows how you can utilize an old rotary mat you may have otherwise discarded to protect your surface.

Other Tools

Scissors and seam rippers are other tools that can also be used to cut open buttonholes. Scissors can sometimes tend to be too large and bulky, depending on the size of the buttonhole. Seam rippers can also be tricky to use, as it can be hard to get close to the stitching at the beginning and end of the buttonhole without cutting through it. Seam rippers are also not designed to go through thick fabrics, as they are used mainly for cutting threads to open a seam or removing serger stitches.

Related Article: Tips for Selecting Buttons and Button Holes

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Have you ever finished garment and done a whole row of button holes and everything looks beautiful and then you go to cut open the button holes and you use either a ripper or a set of scissors, and all of a sudden you've cut too far? You've cut into the stitching. Well, if you're like me, that's happened before and it's a very frustrating experience. So today I'd like to show you a wonderful tool that will eliminate that problem. It's a buttonhole cutter set and it consists of these two tools. One of which is very much like a chisel. It's very sharp and it's beveled on both ends, both sides of the end. And it's very similar to what you might find in a woodworking shop. The other is a hole punch. As you can see, it's just got a round end to it. It's rather sharp. And it's for punching holes like an awl. The set will typically come with a piece of hardwood that you can cut your buttonhole on. But if the hardwood wears out or you don't get a set that particularly comes with this, you can always use a little piece of an old rotary mat or sometimes you can even find a nice little piece in the store. The idea is you just need something between the fabric and the table so that you don't mar your table. So lemme show you how this works. If you have a regular button hole, you're just going to take your chisel and line it up inside. Right along in between the two rows of stitching so that you don't cut the stitching. I like to use a little rubber mallet. Sometimes if you have enough strength, you can get it to go that way, but it is hard on your hand. So I like to use a rubber mallet. Give it a couple of taps. Come on down a little bit further. Repeat the process until you get to the end. And just like that, your button hole is cut. And the threads are not. If you want, you can add just a little bit of Fray Check so that the inside threads don't fray, or you can take a little pair of scissors and gently nip the excess away. But I think you'll find that this gives a very professional finish to your button hole. Now, if you have a key hole button hole. Let me show you how that works. Once again, we're going to just open up the main button hole And then you're going to take the awl punch. And this is also good for doing eyelets. You put it right in the center of the round portion of the keyhole. Give a little tap. And, in this case, you may have, oops, you may have a little piece that you have to pull out. But I think you can see, hopefully we can get the camera in on it, we have a hole that's gone all the way through. Well, maybe that's the easy way to do it. We have a hole that's gone all the way through and then we have a nice, clean cut for the rest of the buttonhole. So if you don't have one of these handy little tools and you are one who does a lot of sewing that requires button holes for garments, I highly recommend you invest the few dollars and purchase one of these. And I think you will find that you'll be very, very glad that you did.
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