Just like the sign says, Jonathan Embroidery in the garment district sews professional-grade buttonholes while you wait.Have I mentioned lately how much I love the garment district? How fabulous is it that you can get professional buttonholes made—while you wait—for $1-$2 per buttonhole. I took an early train into the city on a Saturday morning to have 10 buttonholes put on my coat and to pick up some notions. I had heard about Jonathan Embroidery for buttonholes through the Internet, and you, dear readers, urged me to trust my buttonholes to them. Which I was happy to do because I really don't like making lots of buttonholes. (Does anybody?)
When I arrived at Jonathan Embroidery on W. 38th I was the only customer in the store. I selected my thread from a wall of spools in every color. I thought black thread would be best but my buttonhole person advised gray was a better choice with my fabric, and she was right. I gave her one of my buttons for size and told her I wanted a keyhole buttonhole. She made a sample buttonhole, showed it to me for my approval, and then I—gulp—handed my precious coat over to her.
Ten minutes later she had made 10 perfect buttonholes for just $10. I even browsed the store while she worked—that's how confident I was in her ability. The only thing left for me to do was snip some threads. Now if they can just sew the buttons on for us….
11/17/08 update: I returned to Jonathan Embroidery today to have seven buttonholes put on a military-style jacket I am making out of red double knit. I was in the city working at my company's midtown office, which is conveniently located just blocks from the garment district, and I ran over to Jonathan on my lunch hour. Two people were ahead of me, so I had about a 10-minute wait. There are two buttonhole operators working at peak times; one does regular buttonholes and the other does keyhole buttonholes. You should have pins in your garment indicating where you want your buttonholes. I think it took my operator all of two minutes to make my seven keyhole buttonholes. I paid $7 and left happy. (I'd show a photo of a buttonhole but I cannot get even my good camera to take a decent photo of one. You'll just have to trust me on the quality.)
Here's my fabulous buttonhole person (wish I had gotten her name) preparing to sew a buttonhole on my very own coat. I marked my placement with large pins.
A view of the buttonhole area. Another buttonhole technician arrived at the store around 9:15 a.m. 
My technician was so right about gray buttonhole thread being better with my fabric than black. I love getting good advice.
A customer trying to find the perfect red thread for her jacket's buttonholes.
Jonathan Embroidery has a decent selection of buttons and a small selection of McCall's, Butterick and Vogue current patterns.Jonathan Embroidery
256 W. 38th Street
New York, NY 10018
212-398-3538
M-F 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. (waits during lunch hour can be longer)
Sat. 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
No credit or debit cards accepted
256 W. 38th Street
New York, NY 10018
212-398-3538
M-F 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. (waits during lunch hour can be longer)
Sat. 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
No credit or debit cards accepted
14 comments:
Try using the macro setting (it looks like a tulip) on your camera to take photos of closeup details. Leave the zoom at its WIDEST setting (don't zoom in, it won't work as well) and physically move in close with the camera. You will be a inch or two away from what you're taking a picture of.
Hope that helps!
How cool is that? Wow. You know, I have two boucles that I'm saving for a January trip to NYC. I want to get them professionally fused now thanks to you!
Lindsey, very cool. Thanks to your site, I was actually in this store last night - alas, I needed no buttonholes, but armed with info from your blog, I walked around the district like a kid in a candy store!
Wow, I do miss NYC. I didn't know anyone still did that anymore. I used to go to Gertz to have my buttons and buckles covered. Boy, did I just date myself or what? LOL
Envious! Unless I have been living under a rock, Chicago has no such miracle place,or decent garment district!It might be worth a plane ticket to NY...and I am not kidding (lol)!
Too cool and I am very envious. Too bad I don't live any closer to NYC. Of course, I can barely buy decent fabric locally here, let alone have buttonholes done at lunch.
Wow! We have nothing like this where I live. I'm considering shipping my boucle SWAP jacket to NY!!! I need to investigate further in Australia and see if I can find someone, somewhere who does this.
How fabulous! I wish I had a Jonathans down the road ;(
You can't beat that service - I found a local alterations shop that will do this for me when my buttonholes need to be large, keyhole or in thick fabric - it's still scary handing over stuff though!
Thank you (I think) for the Mrs Doubtfire comment on my blog, hilarious and I did need a laugh!
I'm so glad that your buttonholes came out so nicely!
Crazykwilter, I'll have to try a wide angle macro setting to see if I can get a shot of my buttonholes- I had some keyholes made last week by them. They came out fantastic, even through my thick wool.
I am just so sick with envy! I would kill for such a resource. The only resources up here in this part of NY are the bear and the deer! Can't wait to see this military jacket.
Next coat or jacket buttonholes may be worth the price of the train trip just to avoid the stress of sewing buttonholes, not to mention gorgeous professional keyhole buttonholes!
I am so envious! I wish we had a Jonathans in NZ.
I am very envious too! I don't have access to any of this here!!!
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