How to Sew a Button
Learn how to sew a button back on a shirt, coat, or pair of pants in under five minutes. No sewing experience required.
We lost a button on a dress shirt thirty minutes before a job interview. We safety-pinned it shut, tucked in the shirt extra tight, and spent the entire interview hoping nobody noticed. They probably did.
Sewing a button is one of those skills that takes five minutes to learn and saves you from moments like that for the rest of your life. You do not need a sewing machine. You do not need experience. You need a needle, thread, and about four minutes.
The technique is the same whether it is a shirt, a coat, a pair of pants, or a jacket. Once you do it once, you will never pay someone to fix a button again.
A sewing needle (any basic hand-sewing needle works), thread that matches the garment's thread color, scissors, and the replacement button. If you lost the original button, check inside the garment near the hem or side seam. Many shirts and jackets come with a spare button sewn to the inside label or on a small fabric tab. If you cannot find a spare, bring the garment to a fabric store and match the size and color of the remaining buttons.
Thread the needle and tie a knot
Cut about 24 inches of thread. Thread one end through the eye of the needle and pull it through until you have two equal lengths of thread. This gives you a doubled thread, which is stronger and means fewer passes through the fabric. Tie the two loose ends together with a simple overhand knot. Pull it tight. If you have trouble threading the needle, cut the thread at an angle to create a sharp point, or lick the end to stiffen it. Hold the needle still and bring the thread to it rather than trying to push the thread through the eye.
Mark the button position
Button the garment using the remaining buttons to see where the missing button should sit. Mark the position with a small dot using a pen or a pin. The button should align with the buttonhole directly across from it. If you are replacing a button that left visible holes in the fabric from the old thread, use those existing holes as your guide. They mark the exact position. Lay the garment flat on a table or your lap for stability while you work. If multiple buttons are missing, button up what remains and mark all positions before sewing. This way you can check alignment across the full length of the garment. A single misaligned button causes the fabric to bunch and pull, which looks worse than a missing button.
Anchor the thread from the back
Push the needle up through the fabric from the back side at your marked position. Pull the thread through until the knot catches against the back of the fabric. Make two or three small stitches in the same spot to create a secure anchor point. This prevents the thread from pulling through when the button is under tension. The anchor stitches should be small enough that the button will cover them completely. If the fabric is thin or worn (common around button areas on older shirts), spread your anchor stitches over a slightly wider area rather than concentrating them in one spot. This distributes the stress so the thread does not tear through the fabric when the button is fastened under tension.
Sew the button on with a spacer
Place the button on the marked position, aligning the holes with your anchor stitches. For a four-hole button, you will sew in an X or parallel lines pattern. Place a toothpick, match, or thick pin across the top of the button between the holes. This acts as a spacer to prevent sewing the button too tight against the fabric. Push the needle up through one hole, over the spacer, and down through the opposite hole. Pull the thread all the way through. Repeat four to six times per pair of holes. For a four-hole button, finish one pair of holes (four to six passes), then move to the other pair. For a two-hole button, do six to eight passes through both holes.
Good to know: The spacer is the difference between a button that works and one that is impossible to button. Without a spacer, the button sits flush against the fabric and there is no room for the buttonhole layer to slide between the button and the garment.
Create the thread shank
Remove the spacer (toothpick or pin). You will see that the thread between the button and the fabric has some slack. This is intentional. Push the needle up through the fabric but not through a button hole. Wrap the thread tightly around the thread strands between the button and the fabric six to eight times. This creates a shank, a small thread column that gives the button room to sit above the fabric. The shank allows the buttonhole fabric to fit between the button and the garment when buttoned. Without it, the fabric bunches and the button is hard to fasten. The shank should be about as thick as the garment fabric. A thin dress shirt needs a shorter shank than a thick wool coat. Wrap more times for thicker fabrics.
Tie off and cut the thread
Push the needle through to the back of the fabric. Make three or four small stitches on the back side, looping through the existing thread to create tiny knots. You can also push the needle through a loop of thread before pulling tight to create a knot. Do this two or three times for security. Cut the thread close to the knot, leaving about a quarter inch of tail. Do not cut it flush against the knot because the tail can slip through and the button will eventually fall off. Test the button by fastening and unfastening it a few times. It should feel secure and have enough room for the fabric to slide comfortably behind it. For coat buttons and jacket buttons that take heavy daily use, add a small flat button on the inside of the fabric behind the main button. Sew through both buttons simultaneously. The inside button reinforces the fabric and prevents the main button from pulling through over time. This is how most quality coats are constructed at the factory.
You now know how to sew a button. The whole thing takes less time than driving to a tailor and costs nothing. Keep a small sewing kit in a drawer at home: a few needles, black thread, white thread, and a couple of spare buttons. That is enough to handle every loose button for the rest of your life. The next time a button pops off, you will fix it in five minutes instead of retiring the shirt to the back of your closet. That alone makes this one of the most useful five-minute skills you can learn.
Questions we get asked about this
Answers from experience, not a textbook.
All-purpose polyester thread is the most versatile choice and works for nearly every garment. Match the thread color to the existing button thread as closely as possible. If you cannot find an exact match, go slightly darker rather than lighter because darker thread is less noticeable against fabric. For heavy coats or jackets, use a heavier-weight thread or double up your thread (use four strands instead of two) for extra strength.
The most common cause is not enough passes through the holes. Four passes is the minimum for a button that gets regular use. Six to eight is better for buttons under stress like the top button of pants or the middle button of a jacket. The second common cause is not tying a secure knot on the back. Make multiple small knots by looping through existing stitches, not just one knot that can slip. The third cause is thread that is too thin. Double your thread and use all-purpose polyester for durability.
Flat buttons (also called sew-through buttons) have holes through the face of the button. You sew through these holes as described in this guide. Shank buttons have a loop or stem on the back of the button with no holes on the face. For shank buttons, you sew through the loop on the back instead of through holes. The technique is similar but you pass the needle through the shank loop and the fabric repeatedly instead of through button holes. No spacer is needed because the shank itself creates the necessary gap.
Some sewing machines have a button-sewing setting that drops the feed dogs and allows zigzag stitching through the button holes. It is faster but requires practice and a specific presser foot. For a single button repair, hand sewing is easier and faster than setting up a machine. Machines are useful when sewing many buttons at once, like on a garment you are making from scratch.
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