the Buttonhole Stitch

The featured stitch for week two of Take A Stitch Tuesday 2012 is the Buttonhole stitch.   For directions on how to embroider this stitch, click here (it is a direct link to Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary!).

This is the first embroidery stitch I ever remember learning.  Many years ago, when I was a young Girl Scout, we made simple sit-upons.  We took two square pieces of flannel-backed vinyl, tucked a foam cushion between them and embroidered the blanket stitch around the four sides.  These blanket stitches were utilitarian as well as decorative.  I made two (and possibly more) of these sit-upons and used them on many Girl Scout camp outs and outings.  I may still have one tucked away somewhere and promise to post a photo of it (if my sit-upon turns up one day).

Meanwhile here is my exploration of the buttonhole stitch for my weekly Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge.

I have never tried doing free-form button-hole stitches, nor have I ever made wavy ones, or ones that depict a sweet little heart.  This was a fun challenge because while I am familiar with the blanket stitch, I explored new ways of stitching with it.  I do prefer the variations of symmetry that the stitch naturally allows over the rambling free-form scribble-stitch (or perhaps I need to practice my free-form stitching a bit more!).

By the way, it is not too late to join this ongoing weekly embroidery challenge.  Click here for the beginning directions on Sharon B's Take a Stitch Tuesday.  Click here just to see her Pin Tangle blog -- she's amazingly talented, and warmly spotlights others (with photos and links) in her writings too  -- so many great things to admire and drool over!  As Sharon would say, make a cuppa and come browse for a bit.