If the missing button was toward the top of your shirt or on your pants, grab a sturdy paperclip, hook it through any thread loops left from the button or the surrounding fabric of the shirt, and then slide it through the button hole!
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How to Replace a Button on a Button-Down Shirt
- Snip the threads holding your spare button to the shirt. You’ll need scissors with a sharp tip, or maybe a steak knife.
- Thread a needle.
- Match the button to its correct spot.
- Mimic the sewing of the other buttons.
- Sew the button.
- Make the shank.
- Lock the stitching.
Position the button in the spot it just popped off from and poke one end of the wire through a thread hole from the underside; guide it through the corresponding buttonhole, and bring it back down through the diagonally opposite hole. Twist up the ends and poke them through one of the unused button holes.
Just use a twist-tie, like the kind that comes on a loaf of bread, as a makeshift needle and thread.
The best way to fix a missing or broken button in your jeans is to replace the button, which you can accomplish easily by installing a tack button using a button tool or a hammer. You can also make this no-sew button stronger by adding an iron-on denim patch to strengthen that area of the waistband.
Position your button in line with the button hole. Push your needle and thread through the underside of the fabric until it stops at the knot. Pass the needle through one button hole and then the other. Push your needle and thread back through the fabric until the button is pulled flat against the fabric.
Instructions
- Thread the Needle. Use a needle that’s appropriate for the fabric you’re working with (a lighter needle for finer fabrics and a heavier one for thicker fabrics).
- Tie a Knot.
- Mark Your Spot.
- Thread Through the Top Layer.
- Pull Tight.
- Thread Through the Shank.
- Thread Through the Fabric.
- Pull the Threads in Tight.
HOW TO INSTALL JEANS BUTTONS AND RIVETS
- Using your awl or nail, make a whole in your fabric just big enough for the button/rivet tack to be pushed through.
- Push the tack through from the back of the garment to the front.
- FOR RIVETS ONLY.
- Place your button/rivet face down on your metal surface.
Pull the thread all the way through until the knot snugs against the underside of the fabric. Use a fingertip to keep the button in its place. Turn the needle around and push it back down through the hole opposite the one you came up from. Push it all the way through and tug the thread tight.
Secure the thread and bring the needle to the surface at the position of the button and bring it through the hole in the shank. Take the needle down through the fabric and back to the surface again. Repeat, making several stitches through the shank and fabric.
buttonhole. / (ˈbʌtənˌhəʊl) / noun. a slit in a garment, etc, through which a button is passed to fasten two surfaces together. a flower or small bunch of flowers worn pinned to the lapel or in the buttonhole, esp at weddings, formal dances, etcUS name: boutonniere.