buttonhole stitch

American  

noun

Sewing.

1. a looped stitch used to strengthen the edge of material and keep it from raveling, as around a buttonhole.

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buttonhole stitch British  

noun

1. a reinforcing looped stitch for the edge of material, such as around a buttonhole

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Etymology

Origin of buttonhole stitch

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

buttonhole stitch

Contour in stem stitch, filled in lightly with buttonhole stitch, and darning and long-and-short stitch.

From Jacobean Embroidery Its Forms and Fillings Including Late Tudor by Ada Wentworth Fitzwilliam

Characteristic and most beautiful use is made of buttonhole stitch in the piece of Indian work in Illustration 24, where it is outlined with chain stitch, which goes most perfectly with it.

From Art in Needlework A Book about Embroidery by Mary Buckle

Put in three threads across the width of the buttonhole, bringing the thread out at the bottom of the last buttonhole stitch.

From Handicraft for Girls A Tentative Course in Needlework, Basketry, Designing, Paper and Cardboard Construction, Textile Fibers and Fabrics and Home Decoration and Care by Idabelle McGlauflin

These roses were carefully applied with buttonhole stitch, and the cotton ground underneath cut away to give uniform thickness for quilting.

From The Development of Embroidery in America by Candace Wheeler

Make a stretcher for the head by covering a piece of rattan with buttonhole stitch.

From Hand-Loom Weaving A Manual for School and Home by Mattie Phipps Todd