A Stitching Odyssey: The demystification of bound buttonholes

Another weekend, another wonderful blogger meet-up, making me a very lucky girl indeed, especially because yesterday's meet-up was really rather special. It was actually a Bound Buttonhole Workshop hosted by  Karen (Did You Make That?) at her stylish London home and attended by Jane (Handmade Jane), Winnie (Scruffy Badger Time) and myself. 

As well as feeling excited, I was actually really nervous to attend, fretting that I'd expose myself as the sewing novice I am, but I needn't have worried at all! Karen's extensive preparation included a meticulously set workspace,  pre-cut swatches of all our supplies and  a hard copy of an e-book she'd put together detailing the whole process. That, together with her methodical, encouraging and relaxed attitude, helped us to produce extraordinary results. I never actually expected to 'get it' in such a relatively short space of time and I was genuinely shocked at how good my first ever bound buttonholes looked...THANK YOU KAREN!

All that's left is for me to simply open the rear of my buttonholes, which isn't half as rude as it sounds, I promise!

Getting down to business...just look at Winnie's excellent posture!

Just to really rub it in, look what we got to see in real life...Karen's stunning Simplicity 4934 jacket, which was subjected to A LOT of fondling! 

Karen's thinking behind the session was as a result of the isolation and frustration she felt when she first tackled bound buttonholes herself – perfectly explained here. The generous person she is, she wanted to make the process much smoother and less daunting for home-sewers and after a lot of research and hard work, she put together her e-book. This is what Jane, Winnie and I were essentially 'testing' yesterday and believe me, when it becomes more widely available, you are all in for a treat!  

This talented, yet reassuringly down-to-earth lady, was seriously born to teach!

It was so much fun getting to spend the day with these lovely ladies and finding out a bit more about them all...I'm sure you can imagine the conversation topics we covered and we could have gone on and on! As well as being an excellent teacher, Karen was a very welcoming hostess – there was delicious, home-made chocolate cake and fizz to celebrate our success at the end of the workshop people! We rounded off a perfect day with a perfect dinner. I'm still glowing from the whole experience, thank you ladies very much!

Well don't just take my word for it, pop on over and read what Karen, Jane and Winnie had to say about the day.