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How to Sew on a Button
Tutorial with easy to follow pictures and tutorial to sew on a Flat or Shank Button
Tutorial on how to sew on a Flat Button
To Begin: This swatch of fabric will represent your shirt, blouse, skirt, any place you need to replace a button that has fallen off.
Using a piece of chalk (perfect solution), or a washable pencil (one that is made for this purpose and the marking will wash off during cleaning) mark the spot where you desire the center placement of the button.
1-Take your threaded needle up through the fabric (click HERE for instructions to thread a needle), from the bottom (this will hide the knot) and come up just off center of the mark you made.
2-Pull the thread all the way through, checking the underside of your fabric to make sure the knot is tight to the fabric.
3-Take the needle through any hole of your choice.
4-And pull the thread and needle all the way through, again checking the underside, to make sure it is tight to the fabric, and no loose thread is on the back of the fabric.
5-Position the button directly over the mark you made, then put the needle through the other hole, centering the button, again over the mark.
6-Pull the thread all the way through.
7-Do not pull it so tight that the fabric puckers under the button. There should be a little bit of space so that when buttoned up, it will lay flat and your clothing will look professional and neat. 
8-Make 4-5 loops, but no more than that. Too many loops stitched in the same area weakens the fabric and will cause it to tear.
If the button has 4 holes, do the same as shown here, just in 2 holes, then in the other 2 holes, alternating stitches.
9-To finish off, on the underside of the fabric (not where the button is), take your needle and make a small stitch…
10-And before pulling the thread tight from the stitch, take your needle through the loop…
11-Then pull the thread, evenly and slowly, to make a tight knot next to the fabric. Do this 1 more time to form a secure knot.
12-Cut the thread close to the fabric, using care not to nick the fabric or cut off the knot you have just formed.
Sewing on a shank button? Read on!
Tutorial on how to sew on a Shank Button
A shank button has a circle attached to the bottom of the button. Mark your fabric and sew as directed above for a flat button, steps 1-8.
Using the same method, simply take the needle through the circle/shank and do not pull too tightly, or the fabric will pucker.
Take 4-5 stitches and tie off as directed above when sewing on a flat button, beginning with step 9.
Copyright Carrie Groneman, A Mother’s Shadow, 2013
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