Buttonholes Part 2
These buttonholes are best on a band that is at least 1 1/2 inches wide, as they create large openings. They will also require large buttons. Always make a test buttonhole and try it with the button you wish to use. If the buttonhole is too large, test again with fewer stitches in the buttonhole section; the technique will be the same, no matter how many stitches are used.
Ribbing Buttonholes
Step 1
Knit to the row where the buttonholes will be made, drop and relatch ribbing. For each buttonhole, cut a section of contrast yarn. Bedspread weight crochet thread or pearl cotton works well for this, since it pulls out easily after the buttonhole is completed. Manually knit 4 stitches with the contrast yarn. Repeat for each buttonhole.
Knit the rest of the band, drop and relatch the ribbing. Do not convert any of the marked stitches (the contrast thread); they need to remain in stockinet.
Thread a tapestry needle with a 15″ length of main color yarn. Insert the needle from back to front through the center of the first stitch left of the marked buttonhole stitches. Make a backstitch, inserting the needle into the center of the first main color stitch below the marked stitches, then come back out through the first stitch just to the left.
Step 3
Backstitch across the bottom of the buttonhole. Insert the needle into the 2nd stitch and come out the first, then go in the 3rd and out the 2nd, in the 4th and out the 3rd. Now go into the center of the stitch just to the right of the marked stitches and come out under the 4th.
Step 4
Turn the work around and backstitch across. Notice that this time you pass the needle under both legs of the upside down V. If you don’t do this step correctly, the top half of the buttonhole will not be bound off.
Step 5
Backstitch across, then pass the needle from front to back through the center of the stitch where you began in step 2. Tie the beginning and ending yarn tails together securely (a surgeon’s knot works best, but a square knot will do). Work in the yarn ends on the wrong side of the band.
Repeat steps 2-5 for each buttonhole.
Tailored Buttonhole
The instructions show a 4-stitch buttonhole, which will usually fit a 3/4″ or slightly larger button. To make a smaller hole, use three stitches, and for baby garments, often a 2-stitch buttonhole will fit the smaller buttons used on these little garments. The technique is the same for all sizes.
These buttonholes are made on a folded band, and they are worked on the center row, front and back. Knit to the row where the buttonholes will be made. We will say this is 4 rows. For each buttonhole, cut a section of contrast yarn. Bedspread weight crochet thread or pearl cotton works well for this, since it pulls out easily after the buttonhole is completed. Manually knit 4 stitches with the contrast yarn. Repeat for each buttonhole.
Knit 4 more rows. Turn the stitch dial up 2 numbers and knit 1 row. This is the fold line. Knitting at a looser tension allows the fabric to fold more easily. Turn the dial back to original setting. Knit 4 rows. Bring 5 needles all the way forward, then return them to position C. This should be the original buttonhole needles, plus 1 more on the left side. The lighter loops in the illustration are the contrast thread, and the darker loops are actually main color. Because of the way knitted stitches are formed, there is always 1 more on the top side of the cord. The transfer tool shows which ones to pick up.
Pick up all five main color loops into the hooks of the corresponding needles.
Push these 5 needles back so that the picked up loops go through the stitches. There should now be just one stitch in each hook.
Step 5
To make it easier to explain this step, we will give the buttonhole needles a number. They will be numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 beginning with the left one. Transfer stitch 4 onto needle 5.
Move both stitches back to needle 4. Be sure stitch 4 is on top of stitch 5.
Step 7
Carefully push needle 4 forward about halfway so that stitch 5 slides back behind the latch, but keeping stitch 4 in the hook. Close the latch.
Step 8
Repeat steps 5 through 7 three more times, until there are four empty needles, and stitch 2 is on needle 1. Insert the transfer tool through the loop below the bound off stitch under needle 5; hang this loop on the next needle on the right (which would be needle 6, if we were still numbering them.)
Step 9
Pick up the main color loops (remember, the darker ones indicate the main color) and hang on the 4 empty needles. The one showing on needle 6 is the loop we picked up in step 8.
Step 10
Knit another 4 rows. This completes the buttonhole band. At this point, the pattern will usually tell you to either bind off and sew the bound off edge in place on the wrong side of the garment, or sometimes to hang a hem from the first row of the band, then bind off. This can be a little difficult, and you can almost always choose which method is easier.
The completed buttonhole should look like this.
This tutorial was copyrighted and uploaded to the original Clearwater Knits website in 1997. It was updated in 2017.