Are you a beginner? Everyone has to start at the beginning some time and it is nothing to be ashamed of! There was a day when I didn’t even know how to sew a button on. And there really wasn’t much info out there or instructions that I could find on how to do it, because everyone assumes you already know how to do it. So, this post today is for you, dear friend. I see you lurking in the back, trying to figure out how to sew a button on.
Sewing on a button is a simple task that requires just a few basic supplies: a needle, thread, a button, and scissors. Here’s how you can sew on a button:
- Cut a length of thread: Cut a length of thread about twice the distance from your wrist to your elbow. Thread the needle and tie a knot at one end of the thread.
- Mark the button placement: Place the button where you want it to be sewn on the garment, and make a small mark with a pencil or fabric pen at the center of the button on the right side of the fabric.
- Secure the thread: Push the needle through the fabric to the wrong side, from the inside of the garment, leaving a small loop of thread on the wrong side. Hold the loop in place with your finger and insert the needle back through the fabric and the loop. Pull the thread tight, making a knot on the wrong side of the fabric to secure the thread.
- Sew the button: Bring the needle up through one of the holes in the button and down through the opposite hole. Repeat this step, sewing back and forth between the two holes several times, making sure to keep the thread tight so the button is secure.
- Finish: Once the button is securely sewn, push the needle through to the wrong side of the fabric and tie a knot with the end of the thread, or bury the tail of the thread by pulling it behind the stitches. Cut off the excess thread.
Your button is now securely sewn on! You did it!! Woot woot! Need to buy some buttons or looking for fancy buttons? Check out a great selection on Missouri Star. Click here.
My other advice for the week has nothing to do with sewing. lol. It has to do with baking. I bought one of those new Dolly Parton cake mixes by Duncan Hines that are at Wal-Mart. It looked delicious and I love Dolly. (Who doesn’t?) I bought the Southern Style Banana cake mix. I also bought all of the ingredients needed (eggs, cream, bananas, Nilla Wafers, pudding mix, etc.).
My advice when you bake this cake is to not overcook the cake itself. I did. That was my first mistake. My second mistake was that when making the icing, I clearly forgot an ingredient. I think it was eggs. I’m still not sure. But my icing was the consistency of milk. Skimming the recipe instead of actually reading it closely was my second mistake. Also, the recipe calls for you to slice a banana and add it to the top. This is a bad idea unless the cake is going to be eaten immediately. Brown bananas on top = grossed out kids. Not only was the cake a total flop, I failed to get a picture of the flop for all of us to laugh at. (Google “pinterest cake fails” and just know that my cake would fit right in to that category.)
What did I learn from this? That I’m going to stick to sewing! I’ll leave the baking to my mother and my daughter. They’re pros. (Excuse me while I exit the kitchen and head back to the sewing room…)
This is NOT how to sew on a shankless button. Sew it on like this and the buttonhole will gap because there is no room for the buttonhole fabric. A shankless button must be sewn on loosely. Then when the needle is pulled through from the fabric for the last time, the thread is wound around the loose threads about 5 times creating a shank and room for the buttonhole fabric.
You made an Italian cake, it’s whopsided. That’s what my mother used to tell me when I would bake. She was Sicilian, so don’t get all off on some weird tangent. In fact, both my parent were Sicilian. I used to bake to be creative, because we had and old Singer sewing machine that you had to peddle at the bottom. Then they changed to grade of the thread and you the material and thread would always bunch up on the back. I know adjust the tension. Mom would rethread it with some old thread and I could make crude Barbie clothes and curtains for the dog house next door. That’s when she really taught me how to really bake. I am so glad she did and I listened. She’s not around anymore to ask questions. I bought an expensive sewing machine and have made a lot of quilts, I like to make quilts. I find the best thing, you stay thinner sewing, than you do baking. Lots of luck.
Not how I sew on a button. After thread on needle, get a double, equal length of thread. Go in through the back, leaving a tail a couple inches long. Complete sewing on the button, then run needle in the back through a bit of the project, twist thread around needle, bring down & create knot. Tie that tail ti the original tail a few time if you like. Hope that made sense. lol
I sew my buttons on with my sewing machine. It is easier and takes less time.