Master easy buttonholes with HV Designer Quartz 29

It’s the end of the week! Time slips by when you’re having loads of fun diving deeper in the Wi-Fi capabilities of the Husqvarna VIKING Designer Quartz 29. It’s pretty impressive as an embroidery machine. There are so many great features!

Husqvarna VIKING Designer Quartz 29

Today, we’ll explore three more sewing features, and I’ll show you the finished ornaments I made with the embroidered snowflakes.

Let’s start by looking at the options for making buttonholes. Stitch Menu 3 has seven buttonhole stitches; the eighth stitch is for sewing a button onto something. Did you know those buttonholes each have a different purpose? Some styles of buttonholes are better used in a horizontal orientation to prevent the button from pulling out, as in a woman’s blouse. Buttons on a shirt with a placket are often in the vertical orientation. The keyhole buttonholes offer a more tailored look and are usually used horizontally on pants. The fabric weight can also dictate which buttonhole style to use, so brush up on which buttonhole should be used where!

Stitch Menu 3 – buttonholes

After choosing the buttonhole style, take your button and load it into the One-Step Buttonhole Foot. There’s a spot at the back of the foot to load the button, which ensures the buttonhole is the correct size for your button. Pull the little lever down on the left and insert the button, then push the lever up to hold the button in place, and your buttonholes will be perfectly sized to your button every time!

The button in the One-Step Buttonhole Foot

Next up, you want to prepare your fabric. You need to use a stabilizer or interfacing as the stitches are dense, and you’ll get a lot of pulling or puckering if you do not stabilize the buttonhole area. I used a lightweight fusible interfacing for this sample.

A fusible interfacing inside a double fold of fabric

Then, you want to mark where your buttonholes are to go. Making a practice buttonhole is always a good idea to understand the placement and test your fabric and interfacing. Where does it start, and how does it end? Are the buttonholes horizontal or vertical? Does your fabric pucker? Always do a test.

Use a marking tool that is appropriate for the task. Will the mark show after the buttons are complete? Then, it needs to be removable. While making your test buttonhole, also test your marking tool.

A T-shape mark works well as you’ll use the horizontal line to line up the start of the buttonhole in the foot, and the vertical line helps to get the buttonhole straight on your item.

A T-shaped mark for buttonhole placement

And now we’re ready to go. My fabric is interfaced and marked, and the button is secure in the One-Step Buttonhole Foot.

The One-Step Buttonhole Foot and the fabric are ready.

Attaching the One-Step Buttonhole Foot is easy – simply slide the metal bar onto the presser foot ankle.

The One-Step Buttonhole Foot is attached to the presser foot ankle.

Lower the Buttonhole Lever and ensure it’s behind the stopper on the buttonhole foot. This step will ensure the buttonhole length is correct for the button.

The buttonhole lever is behind the stopper.

Hold the top thread to prevent a thread nest and touch START. Then, sit back and watch the buttonhole stitch out.

Stitching out the buttonhole

And there’s the buttonhole. Super simple! I stitched several to try the different ones. Notice how, even with the lightweight interfacing, there’s some puckering? I used light interfacing; a woven fusible medium-weight would have been better. Now, we can see why making samples is vital to know what the buttonholes will look like before you start stitching your project.

A variety of buttonholes

Here’s the back of the buttonholes. Remember to hold the top thread as you start to stitch to prevent thread nests on the back. A locking stitch is built into the buttonholes to secure the end.

The back of the buttonholes

I used a forty-weight thread for my samples. If you think the coverage is sparse, you can change the width and length of the stitches. Be careful; you don’t want the buttonhole to be too bulky. Again – this is why we make samples.

Change the length and width of the buttonholes

Let’s look at another feature called Sequence. By turning on the Sequence mode at the top, I can program lines of stitches. I’ve got five stitches in my stitch sequence. As I load a stitch, I can mirror it side to side, top to bottom, and change its width and length. I can also move the stitch to the left or right, depending on the width.

Setting up a sequence of stitches

Touch the SAVE button on the bottom left to save the design in the built-in memory.

A pop-up message

You’ll find the Saved stitch sequences in Stitch Menu 5, and you can access or delete them on this screen.

Stitch Menu 5

My stitch sequence will stitch out once using either the START button or the presser foot. If I want a second sequence, I’ll repeat that process. Don’t forget that you must use a stabilizer when working with decorative stitches. I chose random stitches for my sample and used a Tear-A-Way stabilizer. You’ll want to take some time and select stitch sequences that work well together.

You want to ensure that the end of one stitch and the beginning of the next are logically connected. You don’t want a significant jump between one stitch and the next. Remember all the edit tools available to facilitate this process. My sample shows that the bottom two stitches on the left (the same stitch mirrored) have a significant jump between the stitches. The stop and start of the stitches that look like Ss are more connected.

Stitch sequences

Let’s not forget the Font Menu. There are four fonts to play with.

The Font Menu

Here’s a sample of the lettering. These fonts are great for stitching labels, quilt block names on sashings, and many other places.

A sample of one of the fonts

The last thing I’ll share today is my mitten ornaments. I did the machine embroidery on the Designer Quartz 29 earlier this week. I trimmed the snowflakes and added fabric around them, making them large enough to cut out the mitten template. I added a cuff. The glittery clothespins allow them to be attached to a garland or a tree. They are an adorable project for the embroidery machine. Remember that snowflake design came from the mySewnet Library!

Snowflake mitten ornaments

You probably didn’t notice when I shared the snowflake picture the other day, but there were little circles at the end of each stitching line. Yes – those are placement stitches in which you can fuse crystals. They look amazing with all their glitz!

Crystals fused on the snowflake

And that’s a wrap for the week! I had so much fun exploring the Husqvarna VIKING Designer Quartz 29. It would make a great embroidery machine for the cottage; it would be amazing to take to an embroidery class or a sewing/embroidery retreat because it’s so light and portable. It would be a fantastic machine for someone who wants embroidery capabilities but is on a budget.

It has many bells and whistles that a larger embroidery machine has. Obviously, as an entry-level machine, there are limitations, and it’s small.

While it may be small, you can create beautiful projects in both sewing and embroidery mode. And don’t forget the Wi-FIi capabilities. Pop into your local Husqvarna VIKING dealer to get more details and to test drive the machine.

I love it!

Have a super day!

Ciao!

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: The Wi-Fi capabilities of the Husqvarna VIKING Designer Quartz 29

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