How To Sew A Button

To look put together, you need to know how to sew a button. Buttons come off easily. As soon as you notice a button coming loose, you need to sew it right back on. After all, nothing looks shabbier than a missing button.

Here are the materials needed to sew a button:

• button
• thread
• needle
• dressmakers chalk or other marker
• scissors

1. Choose button thread. Choose a color that matches the color that the other buttons are sewn on with. If the button you sew is the only one, choose either invisible thread, which is transparent, or a color that matches the color of the button itself. If your button will get a lot of use, you can choose heavy duty button thread, but this super strong button thread usually only comes in black or white.
2. Choose a needle and thread it. Your hand sewing needle needs to fit easily through the holes in the button. Test the needle. Feed it through the button's holes or its shank to make sure it works. Thread your needle by putting one end of the thread through the eye of the needle. It helps to freshly snip the end of thread, and to lick it. Once it's through, pull it until you have about two feet of thread. Line that up with thread still attached to the spool. Snip the thread so you have a double strand that is two feet long or so. Go with more thread rather than less. Tie a nice fat knot an inch from the end by tying and retying knots on top of each other.
3. Place the button where you want it. Line it up with other buttons, and make a small mark underneath the cloth where the button should be sewn to the fabric. Use dressmakers chalk or some other marker that will wash out later. Put the button aside. From the underside of the fabric, push your threaded needle up through the cloth right at the place you marked. Keep pulling until you feel that the knot is holding it.
4. Slide the button onto the needle and pull the thread through a hole or the button shank. Take a good look at the pattern that the rest of the buttons are sewn with. You may see an X shape or two lines. Copy the pattern that the existing buttons are sewn with. keep repeating and repeating, going through your button and into the fabric, then up through the fabric and through your button again.
5. To finish, sew a button until you have about three inches of thread left. Snip the thread close to the needle, preserving enough thread to tie a knot. Separate the two strands of thread. Tie and retie a knot until you have a nice fat knot that won't pull through the fabric nor come undone. Good job. You did it!