I was taught how to sew on a button many years ago – last century! Thanks to a skilled Mum, and perhaps my grandmother, in a home that has fond memories of a cheerful and busy sewing space.
In my shop, I was so often surprised when customers were buying buttons and had no idea how to correctly sew them onto an article.
The biggest tip is creating a shank under the button, or distance between the underside of the button and the article, reflecting the same thickness of the size of the article that has the buttonhole. Basically, the thickness of the buttonhole with it’s fabric has to fit between the button and the fabric the button is sewn onto.
In my childhood, there was always a matchstick that could be used to insert below the button as it was sewn on, and then removed. These days, I use whatever small thing I can find that will provide the right gap. I know there are commercial devices on the market as well, usually provided as a moulded addition to some other gadget. Toothpicks work well as this article demonstrates.
If you fail to provide this gap, the button is put under stress and can break, or the thread holding the button can pull a hole in the fabric as it tries to create it’s own gap.
Credits to the producers of this graphic – it is very well presented. The only difference in the way I do it, is to locate the toothpick under the button, in the gap between the underside of the button and the fabric, as I sew it on (inserted at step 6/7 rather than step 8). Then I remove the toothpick before wrapping thread around the stitches to create the shank.
