Milanese Buttonholes and Pick Stitching: Hand Details Explained

Two hand details get more attention than almost anything else on a tailored jacket: the raised, glossy buttonhole on the lapel and the line of tiny stitches along its edge. They are the Milanese buttonhole and pick stitching. Both can be signs of careful hand work, both are imitated, and neither tells you much about how the jacket is built underneath. Here is what each one is, how to tell real hand work from a convincing copy, and how much weight to give them when you buy or commission a suit.

What is a Milanese buttonhole?

To make one, the finisher cuts the slit first, lays a thicker silk cord around its edge, then wraps a finer, glossier silk twist around that cord again and again, passing each stitch through the fabric. The stitches are packed so closely that the cord disappears under them. The result stands slightly proud of the lapel and catches the light along its edge, which is why it can look almost like a line of tiny beads. In Italian it is called an asola milanese.

Despite the name, nobody agrees where it began: accounts credit Paris, central Italy and Milan itself. Today bespoke finishers in many cities make it, and some high-end ready-to-wear brands use it as a signature. It is closely associated with Milanese tailoring, where a raised lapel buttonhole sits on an otherwise sober, clean-lined jacket.

How is it different from an ordinary hand buttonhole?

An ordinary hand buttonhole is also cut first and worked in silk twist over a gimp, but with a different stitch. Each stitch is knotted at the cut edge, a stitch tailors call a purl, so the opening is lined with a tight row of tiny knots. On a jacket front it usually has a round eye at one end for the button's shank and a bar of stitches at the other. A Milanese buttonhole skips the knots: the thread is wound around a thicker cord, so the edge is smooth, rounded and raised instead of beaded with knots.

Time is part of the appeal. A skilled finisher can take up to about half an hour over an ordinary hand buttonhole. Makers' estimates for a Milanese buttonhole run from about 15 to 45 minutes, although some bespoke finishers say it is no harder than a standard one. A machine makes a buttonhole in seconds.

Is a Milanese buttonhole functional?

Mostly not. On a bespoke jacket the lapel buttonhole is usually cut open so it can hold a flower stem or a lapel pin, but it is rarely buttoned. On ready-to-wear jackets the lapel buttonhole is often sewn closed, so check before you buy if you want to wear a boutonniere. Some finishers consider the wound Milanese edge less suited to buttonholes that take daily strain, which is one reason it is usually kept to the lapel. A few tailors also put one on waistcoat lapels.

How to spot a real hand-sewn Milanese buttonhole

What is pick stitching on a suit?

Each stitch catches just a few threads of the outer fabric and holds the layers at the edge together: the outer fabric, the facing and the canvas or interlining behind them, described in our guide to what's inside a suit jacket. That keeps the edge flat and crisp and stops it rolling or curling over years of wear. The line usually sits a few millimeters in from the edge.

You will find it on the lapels and collar, down the front edges, around pocket flaps and the breast pocket, and sometimes along the shoulder seams, the lining and the trousers. On heavy flannel it almost disappears; on light, smooth or pale fabrics it shows clearly, and some makers use a contrasting thread to make it a feature.

What is AMF stitching?

AMF stitching is machine pick stitching, named after the American Machine and Foundry company, whose pick stitch machines became so common that the name stuck. The machine uses a floating needle with a point at each end and the eye in the middle, passed back and forth through the fabric much as a hand needle is, so the result looks very close to hand work. It produces a cleaner, more regular line than most hands can.

How can you tell hand pick stitching from machine?

Machine pick stitching has become so good that even tailors sometimes look twice. These are the clues.

Do Milanese buttonholes and pick stitching matter?

They matter as signs of care, not as proof of quality. A Milanese buttonhole shows that someone spent time on one buttonhole. Hand pick stitching shows time spent on the edges, but machine versions are common on mid-priced suits. Neither tells you whether the jacket is canvassed, whether the collar and sleeves were set by hand or whether the jacket fits. Our 10 signs of a high-quality suit puts them in context.

Pick stitching does have a job. It keeps edges flat, which matters most on soft, lightly built jackets where little else holds the edge. Many tailors make the stitches so small and so close in color that you barely see them. Visible, contrasting pick stitching is a style choice, and it reads as less formal.

Should you ask for them on your next suit?

In bespoke, hand buttonholes are standard and a Milanese lapel buttonhole is usually yours for the asking. Pick stitching is a matter of taste: ask to see how fine and how visible the house makes it. In made to measure, machine pick stitching is often included, while hand pick stitching and hand buttonholes may cost extra. Spend on a canvassed front first; these details come after.

Sleeve buttonholes raise their own questions, because working ones limit alterations; see working cuffs explained. For where these details sit among all the hand work in a jacket, read hand-sewn vs machine-sewn, and for tailors who work in the Milanese style, see the best tailors in Milan.

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