How to Sew on a Button on Your Dress Shirt
It is just a question of time before you will pop off a button on your dress shirt. Constant dry-cleaning, washing, and pressing your dress shirts in combination with opening and closing your shirt’s buttons hundreds of times causes stress on your shirts. Sooner or later a button will come loose and fall off.
The most convenient way to fix the missing button is by using your dry-cleaner. Next time you drop off your dress shirts that need to be pressed, point out the missing button. Sewing on a new button will only cost you a few dollars. If you are a regular customer, chances are that your cleaner will do this at no charge. Next time you pick up your dress shirts everything will be fixed and look like new.
There are times however when we don’t have this luxury. Take a business trip for instance: You typically only bring just enough dress shirts needed for the trip, and there is no dry cleaner near your hotel. What do you do if a button comes off right before you get dressed for an important business dinner? Don’t panic! Sewing on a button is much easier than you think and will only take a minute or two.
Instructions on How to Sew on a Button:
- Find a matching button. Most dress shirts have extra buttons at the bottom of the dress shirt that serve no other purpose than being a spare. If your dress shirt doesn’t have extra buttons, cut of the lowest button on your dress shirt. No one will notice if the lowest button is missing since you (1) have the shirt tugged in your pants, and (2) your jacket will cover the lower potion of your torso.
- Find a matching color thread. Most dress shirts use either white or blue thread. Since these colors are so common, chances are your hotel reception will have those. If you cannot find the exact thread color, use the closest color shade you can find.
- Remove all excess thread that might still be hanging from where the old button used to be.
- Cut the thread about 1/2 yards long (the length of your hand to elbow) and feed the thread to the eye-hole of the needle. Pull at least 1/4 of the thread through the needle as this will prevent the thread of coming out of the eye hole.
- Place the button on the right location and hold it down with one hand. With your other hand push the needle through the dress shirt from underneath, and through one of the holes in the button.
- Now push the needle through the hole of the button that is diagonal across from the hole where the thread is coming from. Push the needle and thread through your dress shirt.
- Repeat Step 5 and 6 a few times until each hole of the button has been used 2 or 3 times.
- Now lets create a little extra space between button and dress shirt: You start as you would in step #6 but only push the needle through the shirt, and not through the button. You now have the needle in between shirt and button. Take the thread and wrap it around the the gap between button and dress shirt. Pull it tight after each wrapping, and repeat this 4 to 5 times.
- Secure the thread: The easiest and most secure way to do this is by creating a knot during the previous step. Wrap the yarn around the button, but do not pull it tight. Before tightening it, pull the end of the thread through the loop, and then pull tight. Repeat this 2 to three time.
- Finally cut the thread. You are done.
If you follow the steps above, you will be able to sew on a new button within a minute or two.