How To Sew A Button That Doesn’t Budge (Video)
Steven and Chris
One of my biggest pet peeves is buttons that pop off! WHY is it so hard for store-bought garments to be made with buttons that don’t fall off???
Fortunately, I know some insider tricks for sewing a button that stays put!
- Coat the thread with beeswax
- Make a shank
- Hide the thread end
Truth be told, hiding the thread end has nothing to do with the strength and security of the button. But it makes any hand-sewn button look pro! 🙂
Here’s how…
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Host, Steven Sabados:
Welcome back, everybody. Well, Denise Wild is here and she’s going to show us how to sew up some wardrobe malfunctions. Everyone, please, say hello to Denise.
Host, Chris Hyndman:
Hi, Denise.
Denise Wild:
Hi. Thank you.
Steven:
Welcome.
Chris:
How are you, sweetheart?
Denise:
Very well, thank you.
Chris:
Good, good, good.
Denise:
And so we’ve got a couple of issues that have happened and it’s time to sew them up. First thing, you go to put on your coat, to leave, and the button pops off.
Chris:
Happens all the time.
Steven:
All the time.
Denise:
Yeah.
Chris:
And I usually just leave it there. I go out without a button. That’s exactly what I do.
Denise:
I’m going to show you how to sew a button that doesn’t budge.
Chris:
Okay.
Denise:
And what we’ve done first is double-knotted our thread.
Chris:
Yeah.
Steven:
Um, hum.
Denise:
So it’s knotted at the bottom and it’s double threaded.
Chris:
Yeah.
Denise:
This first secret to a button that doesn’t budge is to coat the thread in beeswax.
Chris:
Yeah, this something that I would never–
Steven:
I didn’t either.
Denise:
So we have this little nifty gadget.
Chris:
Yeah.
Denise:
You’re going to pull your thread across–
Chris:
Okay.
Denise:
—so that it coats in beeswax.
Steven:
So what is the– what does this do? The bee’s wax, what is it, just giving it extra strength?
Denise:
Exactly. It gives it extra strength, extra durability to make sure the threads don’t snap.
Steven:
Okay.
Denise:
And if you don’t have one of these at home–
Chris:
Yeah.
Denise:
—you just use a taper candle. Just wrap your thread around and pull it through.
Chris:
Actually, pull it through the candle?
Denise:
Yeah.
Chris:
Got it.
Denise:
Where we’re going to start is we’re going to put our needle through the top layer of fabric.
Chris:
Okay.
Denise:
You don’t want to go all the way to the bottom, because what we’re going to do is hide our knot–
Chris:
Oh.
Denise:
—right up at the top.
Chris:
I see, okay.
Steven:
Okay, there we go.
Denise:
So our knot stays here.
Steven:
Yeah, oh good.
Denise:
The second trick to a button that doesn’t budge is to use a spacer. You actually want to have a little gap between your button and between the fabric.
Chris:
Okay.
Denise:
So we’re going to slide this along here.
Chris:
On the side one? Yeah, okay.
Denise:
Exactly.
Chris:
Alright.
Denise:
On that little hole.
Chris:
Yeah.
Denise:
And then your button will sit right on top of there. So we’re actually going to sew through the button.
Chris:
Oh!
Steven:
You know what, because a lot of times I’ve sewn on a button; you sew it good and tight and you crank it down and then you– it’s a wool coat and you can’t fit around the button.
Denise:
Exactly. You don’t want to sew it right against the fabric.
Chris:
That means it’s not going to have wear and tear–
Denise:
Exactly.
Chris:
—the wear and tear. I see, okay. So it’s not going to pull so much.
Denise:
So we have–
Chris:
Okay, so what do we do from here, because I feel stranded?
Denise:
Okay, so now, you’re going to go back down into the button. You can lift it up.
Chris:
Okay.
Denise:
It’d probably be easier.
Chris:
Okay.
Denise:
And we’re just going to sew–
Chris:
Oh, yeah, okay.
Denise:
—up and down.
Steven:
How–
Chris:
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Denise:
And then once you’ve gone all the way to the bottom and then back up.
Chris:
So how– oh, okay. So you need to hold all your little things.
Denise:
Yeah.
Chris:
You need to hold your button, hold the little spacer–
Denise:
Yeah.
Chris:
—and hold – oh, my. Well, so I’ll watch you.
Denise:
Okay. So after you’ve gone around a few times, I’ve used extra strength thread–
Chris:
Yeah.
Denise:
—so that we don’t have to go through too many times.
Chris:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Denise:
Just go around three or four.
Chris:
Yeah.
Denise:
What we’re going to do is, from the bottom of the fabric, you’re going to come back up, but this time without going through the hole of the button.
Chris:
Oh, so you didn’t do very many whoop-ditty-dos?
Steven:
Right.
Chris:
You only did like–
Denise:
Right. I just did three or four
Chris:
Because, whenever I– yeah, I always expect that someone’s going to sew like a hundred of them–
Denise:
Right.
Chris:
—and it’s going to be like hero strength–
Denise:
Yeah, but we’ve already strengthened the threads, so we don’t need to do that.
Chris:
So you don’t need to do that.
Denise:
So we’re coming up to the top, pull out your thread, and then we’re going to do what’s called a shank. So your wrapping–
Chris:
Yeah.
Denise:
—the thread around the top.
Steven:
Yep.
Denise:
Around that extension there.
Chris:
How do you– how’s it working out for you?
Steven:
Because, I know it. I’ve always done it.
Chris:
Because, you know what, I’m impressed with you guys, because I didn’t do well in school because I didn’t listen very well. So I’m like– as you can see. I–
Steven:
Then we just what the one on the top, right–
Chris:
I’m still on the first one where the button went on.
Denise:
Yeah, so now–
Chris:
Like I make– this is as far as I’ve gotten so far.
Denise:
Once you’ve got the shank–
Chris:
This exam has failed.
Denise:
I’m going to show you another great trick for a button. It’s hiding our thread end. So we’ve got a little knot in here.
Chris:
Yeah.
Steven:
Um, hum.
Denise:
And then what we do is we enter the thread into the fabric, but instead of going back all the way to the back–
Chris:
Okay.
Denise:
—you stay between the two pieces of fabric.
Steven:
Right.
Chris:
Oh, why are you doing that?
Denise:
You bring your thread out this way, pull it nice and tight to secure that knot–
Chris:
Why are you doing that though?
Denise:
And then when I cut this–
Chris:
Yeah.
Denise:
—the thread will disappear into the fabric.
Chris:
Ah!
Denise:
And you won’t have a loose thread end.
Chris:
Because when you started to do it, it looked like you’d had too many cocktails and went way off–
Steven:
Ah, love this.
Chris:
—the edge.
Denise:
Yes. Exactly.
Chris:
But, no. That’s brilliant! So it hides the thread.
Denise:
Exactly.
Chris:
And it won’t be showing on the edge of the button.
Denise:
Right.
Chris:
You’re a genius!
Steven:
And that’s never going to budge.
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