How to sew a button with your sewing machine

This easy tutorial will teach you how to sew a button on with your sewing machine, using a button foot or a regular foot.

Supplies and materials

• Sewing machine that can at least do a zigzag stitch
• Matching thread
• The buttons for your project
• Something to mark fabric with
• Scissors
• Hand sewing needle
• Button fitting foot (optional) (I bought this nice set of presser feet before I had my newer machine)

Notes

• Keep in mind, whenever you’re sewing buttons, the area should be interfaced first.

• If you need to make buttonholes with your machine and don’t know how, you can check out my post here.

Mark the button placement

The easiest way to find your button placement is to place the side with buttonholes on top.

For vertical buttonholes, put a pencil (or chalk for darker fabrics) through the center and make a mark.

For horizontal buttonholes, it will be closer to the inside edge of the buttonhole, not the center (more on this in the buttonhole post linked above).

Baste the buttons in place

This is optional, but so helpful. I find it pretty awkward getting the button under the presser foot and keeping it in place, especially since the mark is hard to see. This step is so quick and makes it so much easier, especially if you’re doing a lot of buttons. It will also be extra helpful if you’re using a regular presser foot, seeing as it has less grip.

Thread a needle with a length of thread a little longer than your button placket and tie a knot. Then baste all the buttons in place, according to the marks you made. You can make a knot at the end, or just hold the tail if needed.

For 2 hole buttons, the holes should be parallel to the buttonhole. For 4 hole buttons, you will be making 2 rows or a cross, and the orientation is totally up to you.

Set up your machine to sew a button

Attach your button foot if using. Otherwise just use your regular zigzag foot.

Then select a button stitch. On my Brothercs6000i, this is stitch 40. If your machine doesn’t have a specific button stitch, you can just use zigzag with a stitch length of 0.

For sewing buttons, we don’t really want the feed dogs involved. Some machines will automatically disengage them. Some have an option to lower them manually (there will be a switch at the back of your machine, below where the feed dogs are). And some come with a cover that you can place over them.

If you can’t do any of these, it might be ok. Test it out on some scrap fabric and see if the feed dogs move it or chew up the underside. If they do, then you can make your own cover. I used to use an old membership card/credit card with a wide enough hole for the needle to go through and tape it in place. I think I used a pairing knife to make the hole in it…! (You can also use the cover for freehand motion sewing.)

Sew the buttons on

Hold your thread tails so they don’t get tangled up and hand crank the fly wheel to make sure that the needle is going to go through both holes. Otherwise the needle will hit the button and might break it (this has happened to me multiple times!). Adjust the zigzag width and move the fabric and button slightly if needed.

Then sew about 10 stitches. Finish with a reinforcement stitch (stitch into the same hole 3-4 times to make a knot).

If you have a 4 hole button, sew 10 stitches into 2 holes, then raise the needle and presser foot and adjust, either stitching parallel to the first 2 or turning your fabric to make a cross and sew another 10 stitches. Then finish with a reinforcement stitch.

I find it works best to cut the tails between each button, leaving them long enough to thread through a needle and bring to the back.

Bring tails to back and knot

Use your hand sewing needle to bring the tails to the back and tie a triple knot. Snip the ends. Or you can work the tails between the layers of fabric. Just make sure to go through some of the stitching if you do this, otherwise they will work their way out in no time!

What about making a button shank or stem?

Well, I never do! But they do supposedly make the buttons a little easier to use. If you want to, thread the tails through the needle and before bringing them to the back, bring them between the button and fabric and wrap around the stitching about 6 times. Then finish bringing them to the back and tie off.

Thanks for reading!

Now you know how to sew a button on with your sewing machine. I hope you found this post helpful, and be sure to let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!