buttonholes

Firming Things Up

Embroidery Stabilizer — View on Amazon. We may earn a small commission on your purchase at no extra cost to you.

If you own an embroidery machine, chances are good you have a drawer full of various types of stabilizers needed for your embellishing. However, if you don’t have an embroidery machine, you may not think you need stabilizers—but think again!

What is stabilizer?

Simple answer—something to put behind or over fabric temporarily to well, stabilize it, while stitching. Because machine embroidery uses dense stitches and lots of thread, stabilizers help to eliminate puckering.

Stabilizers come in a variety of constructions—from woven and non-woven to mesh, film and liquid. They have a variety of application methods, from sew-in to fusible to self-adhesive. And, they have a variety of removal methods, from cut-away and tear-away to heat-away and water-soluble. Check out your store’s offerings for a multitude of mix-and-match construction, application and removal methods.

Note that most stabilizers are designed to be temporary, while similar products called interfacings are meant to be permanent. Stabilizers can also become permanent additions to your project.

So, even if you don’t do embroidery…you need stabilizer too! Here’s why:

Decorative stitching can cause some fabrics to pucker and distort, and if the stitches are especially wide, they can cause “tunneling” which means the edges of the stitches pull in toward each other. Using a stabilizer underneath can help eliminate these issues. Another option is to use liquid stabilizer to stiffen the fabric prior to stitching, then wash it out after stitching.

Appliqué, especially on lightweight fabrics or knits, can also cause puckering, so place stabilizer under the area you’re working with to keep the appliqué and the base fabric pucker-free.

Beading and sequins can cause distortion due to the added weight, so adding a stabilizer under the area will help with support. This is one area where a stabilizer can be left in permanently.

Add stabilizer to support the weight of beading

Off-the-edge stitching can play havoc with your sewing machine, as well as the fabric edge, so if you’re trying to stitch scalloped or picot edging, lay a piece of wash-away stabilizer under the edge and extending about ½”. After the stitching is complete, remove the stabilizer, leaving only your delicately stitched edge.

Picot Edge (image compliments of Bernina)

Serger rolled hems sometimes leave pesky fabric threads poking through the serger threads, but if you wrap the edge in a narrow strip of water-soluble stabilizer before sewing, those troublesome threads will be contained. If you’re serging a regular stitched edge, liquid stabilizer along the fabric edge will help keep it flat.

Buttonholes sometimes stretch, despite our best interfacing efforts, but adding a strip of stabilizer on the top and bottom of the fabric can help minimize distortion. A clear film stabilizer is ideal for this purpose. This technique also works well for buttonholes and seams on a textured fabric, like bouclé or loosely woven suiting, where the fabric threads or nubs may catch on the presser foot toes. Stabilizer makes for smooth stitching lines by compressing the surface texture.

Sewing sheer fabrics can sometimes be a wrestling match, as they tend to slip, slide and stretch during construction. But with the addition of a liquid stabilizer, seamlines can be stable for stitching, and edges firmed for hemming. Stabilizing the fabric itself can also make for easier and more accurate cutting. This assumes your sheer fabric is washable to remove the stabilizer after construction.

Couching—the addition of yarns, ribbons and trims with either controlled or free-motion stitching—can also cause distortion in the base fabric, but adding a stabilizer firms up the surface for easier attachment.

Creating your own free-form fabric or scarves using just yarns is easy–just sandwich the fibers between layers of clear wash-away stabilizer. Stitch in place, then rinse away.

Hemstitching with a wing needle can sometimes damage the fabric as the needle “wings” can catch on fabric threads, pulling them into the needle hole. Liquid stabilizer can eliminate that and create well-defined holes for your design.

Wing Needle (image compliments of Bernina)

Die-cutting is a great place to use stabilizer for cleaner edges on lightweight cottons. Some stabilizers come in pre-cut sheets specifically for this purpose.

Paper-piecing is an ideal place to use an inkjet-printable stabilizer. Just print multiples of your quilt blocks and you’re ready to stitch on clearly printed lines.

So, even if you’re not a machine embroiderer, you will need a drawer of various stabilizers—trust me!

~Linda Griepentrog is the owner of G Wiz Creative Services and she does writing, editing and designing for companies in the sewing, crafting and quilting industries. In addition, she escorts fabric shopping tours to Hong Kong. She lives at the Oregon Coast with her husband Keith, and three dogs, Yohnuh, Abby, and Lizzie. Contact her at .

Button and buttonhole placements can sometimes be confusing. If the button and buttonhole are placed incorrectly, the garment may be too tight, too loose, or create gaping. The number of buttons on the garment is suggested on your pattern envelope, but it’s up to your personal preference or need. A good guide to start placing your buttons vertically is to keep in mind your body’s pressure points. Pressure points are where your body may put strain on the garment and may be your bust, belly, or even the hip if you are making a button front dress or skirt.

Button Placement

Once you have identified your pressure point(s), mark these on your muslin or sloper (block) pattern for future reference.

Decide how many buttons to use.
Lay your pattern or muslin flat, mark the center front and your pressure points.
Place your highest and lowest buttons on the muslin.
Measure the distance between your top and bottom buttons.
Divide this distance between the number of buttons you will use. If you use 5 buttons, divide by 4. You will always divide by one less button, because that is the number of actual spaces between your buttons.
Determine if the button placement falls on your pressure point(s). If not, you may want to adjust the position slightly to hit that sweet spot.

Buttonhole Position

Now that you have the button position, you need to determine if you want vertical or horizontal buttonholes. Horizontal buttonholes will need a facing deep enough to fit the entire length of the buttonhole. I have seen some patterns where the facing is too narrow for horizontal buttonholes. Vertical buttonholes allow for button play. This means if the button is not set exactly in the measured spot, there is room for the button to move up and down within the hole.

The distance between center front and the finished edge of your garment is generally 5/8”. This is okay if your button is 7/8” or smaller. If the button is larger, you will need to extend the distance from CF to the finished edge of your garment.

Buttonhole Size

To figure out what size buttonhole to use, some machines have a button hole foot that the button sits on the back carriage and the machine will make a buttonhole to that size. Or you have a machine that is computerized and you can adjust for your button size. The general rule of thumb is, the buttonhole needs to be 1/8” bigger than the button, for ease of going through the hole.

1/2” button uses a 5/8” buttonhole
5/8” button uses a 3/4” buttonhole
3/4” button uses a 7/8” buttonhole

Good Buttonhole Practices

When making a vertical buttonhole, the button and buttonhole will be placed exactly at center front. In the case of horizontal buttonholes, the button is set at center front, but the hole is started 1/8” away from center, toward the finished edge. If your garment needs a button at the top edge, I start at 5/8” down for the button placement, but you can decide how far down, depending on the width of your button. But never start a buttonhole higher than ¼” below the neck edge.

Always make a test buttonhole with the same thickness as your garment, Top fabric, bottom fabric and interfacing. Make sure your button will pass through the hole easily.
Buttons are set on the left front and buttonholes on the right front for women’s garments

Something that I do for jackets, especially for horizontal buttonholes, is to set all the buttonholes along the edge of your fabric BEFORE cutting out the front body. This allows for checking the placement without chancing ruining the garment and works best for bound button holes because the inside opening is usually hand finished.

Stabilizers: Not Just for Embroidery