One of the most frequent questions I get is “where can I find the threads you use for buttonholes?” My go-to gimp is Agreman and the silk twist I usually use is R753, both products by Gutermann. It has sometimes been challenging to find it at retail, especially in the U.S., but there is now a new source over here. I haven’t used them- the National Sales Manager at Gutermann is a friend and she let me know about them.
Bay Tailor Supply is now stocking these items. If someone orders from them, do let me know how the service is.
Hand Made Buttonholes from Jeffery D on Vimeo.
Excellent – I'm in need of some new colours to match a current project, so I'll give them a try.
I've been practising my hand worked buttonholes – slowly getting there!
You should also check out re-enactment sutlers. I pick up silk thread and twist from Burnley & Trowbridge regularly as well as Wm Booth Draper. It's not Gutermann, but it does come in many colors. I also get Gutermann from embroidery stores.
First off, you could not have chosen a more fitting piece of music for the video. Thank you.
I really enjoy your posts. You probably have heard of this magazine, but just in case you have not, Selvedge out of the UK has the March/April issue devoted to tailors and cutter.
Here is the link: http://www.selvedge.org/
Thanks for mentioning my store, Jeffrey!
ColeV: I was aware of Wm Booth, but not Burnley & Trowbridge. Looks like a valuable resource. For reference, there is a factor of nine between denier and tex thread sizing, so B&T's 1000 denier twist is about tex 110, vs Gutermann's tex 75. Great for a thicker, more pronounced purl, especially on heavy cloth.
Callum (owner of Bay Tailor Supply)
(thread size ref: http://designer-entrepreneurs.com/blog/illustrations/Thread_Sizes.htm from Kathleen Fasanella)
Thanks for (re)posting the buttonhole tutorial. I was wondering…have you ever written a post about what kind of sewing maching you use? I'd be interested to know. TIA
poppykettle- good luck!
ColeV, ALM- thank you for these sources.
Callum- pleasure!
Kim- I use an industrial lockstitch machine. Nothing fancy.
It's kind of sad that I cannot get the 400m spools in Germany, at least I didn't manage to find any sources for it. And the prices for the small ones (10 and 30m) are insane… 🙁
So, if all else fails I'll have to order the products of a German company from the US.
Strange world…
I ordered threds and gimps fom Buy Tailor Supply to Sweden. Quick and prompt delivery. Excellent!
great video! thanks for sharing it. I am amazed out how quickly the work is being done 🙂
Allison
I have also had wonderful luck with the imported Japanese silk buttonhole twist at Britex fabrics: http://www.britexfabrics.com/notions/thread/japanese-silk-buttonhole-twist-thread.html
I really enjoy your blog, thank you. I am going to order some gimp and buttonhole twist to make some of my jackets' machined buttonholes into handmade ones. Both the Gutermann gimp and buttonhole twist seem to be available from kentontrimmings.co.uk and theliningcompany.co.uk in the UK. The buttonhole twist is quite cheap, so I would get a variety of colours, but the gimp is more expensive so I'm not sure how many different colours to buy. Can you advise on how important it is to match the colour of the gimp to the buttonhole twist, ie. does the gimp show through at all?
The stitches should be so close together that the gimp is not visible. It is advisable to get something fairly similar to your thread color but you don't need to match it. Most workshops could get by with four or five colours total.