When you love to make quilts, you will be working with applique to make different blocks for your quilts, quilters often use an embroidery stitch to highlight one applique piece from the rest, this stitch is the Blanket stitch. After making a good number of quilts, I was asked by a new quilter, how sure I was to be working with the blanket stitch and not with the buttonhole stitch, this question took me to investigate what is the difference between these two embroidery stitches, and when to use each one.
Buttonhole Stitch Vs Blanket Stitch
To learn more about Buttonhole Stitch VS Blanket Stitch, is that both stitches look similar, but both are made with a technique, but the first one is used by the tailors to secure the edges of buttonholes sewn by hand, while the second stitch is used to secure the edge of blankets and it can be made more open.
Blanket Stitch
The Blanket Stich is an embroidery stitch that is used to as a decorative edging, normally as a final step of the making of a blanket, but this stitch is also used to highlight an embroidery or an applique piece on your quilts. This embroidery stitch runs along the fabric edge, and follows the shape of each piece, you can identify this stitch as it is held on the edge by the next stitch, the method is to make this stitch from left to right, holding the piece to be stitched with the edge facing you.
The blanket stitch can be made with any type of thread when it is made on a quilt, some quilters will use a regular thread for sewing matching the color of each piece, while some quilters will be working with a thread in a different color to highlight each piece.
Quilters can also use any type of embroidery thread to make the blanket stitch like embroidery floss or perle.
Buttonhole Stitch
When working on a project that requires one or more buttonholes sewn by hand, you might be working with the buttonhole stitch, which may look similar, but is made with an extra loop, or purl on the edge of the project, this loop will give each stitch the extra strength the buttonhole needs, as the piece is worn often. This stitch is often worked from right to left, with the edge facing away from you.
Buttonhole Stitch VS Blanket Stitch On Your Quilts
When you work on making a quilt, you might want to make every stitch to last for years. Most of the times, the blanket stitch is used to add an extra embroidery touch to highlight applique work on your quilts.
Whether you work with Blanket stitch or with Buttonhole stitch on your quilts, will depend on the use of the quilt, if you’re making a Quilt for a baby, which it will be used and washed often, you might want to be sure every stitch last for many years, and in case a stitch gets broken, the buttonhole will be assured to stay in place and it will be easy to repair only one stitch at a time.
When making a small quilt with less use, like a mini quilt to be placed on top of a table or to be hung on the wall, working with the blanket stitch will add the extra embroider look and it will be easier to work on.
Can The Blanket Stitch Be Made With A Sewing Machine?
As the blanket stitch made by hand takes more work to be done, some quilters and sewers have taken the option to make it with their sewing machines.
Some sewing machines come with the blanket stitch features, while some have only a few stitches to work with and most probability that they don’t include this stitch.
If you’re planning to work with the blanket stitch feature on your sewing projects, then this is important to have in mind when shopping for a new sewing machine.
When To Make The Blanket Stitch By Hand Or With Your Sewing Machine
When working on a sewing project or making a quilt, you might need to choose whether to make the blanket stitch by hand or with your sewing machine, and the answer will be, it will depend whether you like how one stitch made by hand looks on your project, or if you like how it looks when you make it with your sewing machine, and both are right.
Related: Basic Embroidery Stitches For Your Quilts
Closing
When you love to sew and to make quilts, you will be working with the Blanket stitch often, and less with the buttonhole stitch.
Whether you work with one or the other on your projects, will depend on which stitch is easier for you to work with, or it will depend on the project your working on.
The Buttonhole stitch and the Blanket stitch, both will add that extra look to your projects, both are easy to make and we are sure that now that you know the difference between these two stitches, you might want to try both and decide which one is the right one to work with on your next project.
Happy Sewing!
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