Detached Buttonhole with Return Stitch

I have done a little detached button hole with return stitch before, enough to realise that it might be tricky in metallic threads. I did my first sample on the doodle cloth in imitation metallic. This went more easily than I expected but I found it difficult to keep the tension consistent. I then did a sample in #371 gold. I found the heavier thread more difficult to manipulate through the stitches but found it a bit easier to control the tension. The gold seemed to crack more than I had experienced in the other stitches and exposed more of the silk core than I would have liked. Also I managed to finish with two stitches fewer than I started with. This distorted the rectangle.

© Carol-Anne Conway

I was not fully happy with the stitch yet so decided to practice some more on the doodle cloth, this time using a silk thread. Again when I finished, I found that I had two stitches fewer on the final row than I had started with.

© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

At this point I looked in my stitch dictionary and on the web for other descriptions of how to do detached buttonhole with return. Sometimes I find that reading a different set of instructions or seeing a different diagram can help me understand the mechanics of a stitch. After reading several descriptions I finally realised why I was dropping (and sometimes gaining) a stitch.

Detached buttonhole stitch, with or without a return, begins with a foundation row. The buttonhole stitches on subsequent rows are made into the loops of the preceding row but there is always one more loop than there are stitches. You can either stitch into first loop or into the last loop but should not stitch into both (stitching into neither will result in one less stitch than the previous row, stitching into both results in one stitch more than the previous row). If you stitch into the first loop on one row, you need to stitch into the last loop on the following row and continue alternating between the first and last stitch to keep the area being stitched rectangular.

On my final sample, I maintained a consistent number of stitches in every row but I encounter a new problem. At the end of each row there is a small stitch from the final buttonhole stitch to the beginning of the return stitch. My stitching thread was sliding between the warp and weft threads of the linen making the row appear shorter.

© Carol-Anne Conway

I felt ready to add the detached buttonhole with return stitch to my sampler. Well, I kept the number of stitches consistent and a rectangle is a nice shape. I think that I still need to work on the tension and there is far more silk showing through the gold that I would like. I think that I prefer this stitch is silk; I like the lacy appearance in silk and I think that the stitches are difficult to see in this thread. I also don’t see the point of the return stitch. In my view it makes the stitch look cluttered. I may or may not rework this spot at a later date.

Detached Buttonhole with Return Stitch
© Thistle Threads/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching