makes a good line or outline. To work it (fig.
47)--Bring the needle through one-sixteenth of an inch from the end of
the traced line, insert it at the commencement and bring it through
again one-sixteenth of an inch beyond where it first came out. Each
stitch, it will be seen, commences at the point where the last one
finished.

BUTTONHOLE STITCH AND ITS APPLICATION

Buttonhole stitch, which is well known in plain needlework, is very
useful also in embroidery, besides being an important stitch in
needlepoint lace. Owing to its construction it is well suited for the
covering of raw edges, but it is also adaptable to a variety of other
purposes, such as are open or close fillings of leaves and flowers, cut
work, and the outlining of applied work.

[Illustration: Fig. 48.]

There are two ways of forming the stitch, the common buttonhole and what
is called tailor's buttonhole.

To work the ordinary buttonhole stitch (fig. 48)--Bring the needle
through at the left-hand end of the traced line, hold the thread down
to the left with the thumb and insert the needle as shown in the
diagram, draw it through over the held thread to complete the stitch. It
is worked openly in the diagram, but it may, as required, be either more
or less open or quite closed.

[Illustration: Fig. 49.]

The tailor's buttonhole is for some purposes more satisfactory; the
stitch is firmer than the other kind owing to the heading having an
extra knot in it; this makes it also more ornamental. To work it (fig.
49)--Commence in the same way as the last stitch until the needle and
thread are in the position shown in fig. 48 then, with the right hand
take hold of the thread near the eye of the needle, bring it down and
loop it under the point from right to left, draw the needle and thread
through over these two loops, and the first stitch is made.

[Illustration: Fig. 50.]

Buttonhole stitch can be varied in many ways, dependent mainly upon the
spacing of the stitch and the direction that the needle takes when
picking up the material. Fig. 50 shows four simple varieties; the first
is the open buttonhole spaced slightly irregularly and with a thread
slipped underneath it; any variety of spacing can be arranged, and the
thread shown running underneath, which sometimes forms a pretty
addition, is usually of a contrasting colour or material. The second
shows the stitches taken slanting-wise, so that they cross each other.
In the third the stitches