The Most Beautiful Way to Sew on a Button

Sewing on a button is a life skill. Most people could attach a button onto a shirt if push came to shove, but there's a long way from that to elegance.

I starting sewing again with some intensity during Covid, and unlike previous sewing eras of my life, I had Instagram this time around, showing me all these tiny details that have helped me level up my game. My mum taught me the basics. Instagram sewists made me feel like I sorta know what I am doing.

My machine does a decent job, and if you have to sew on 20 shirt buttons, the machine approach is incredibly appealing. Occasionally I will choose a shank button and have to hand sew. And wow, is it hard to make it pretty.

But when you see the beauty of this approach, (the video has 30k likes) you won't go back. No ugly knots on either side of the placket. No stitches on the inside at all. No little ends peeping out. Just magic.

The secret is to put two ends of thread through the eye of your needle, creating a little loop. (If this alone is a struggle, get yourself one of our cute birdie needle threaders.) You'll use this to create the anchor on your fabric (through only the top layer.)

When you finish, you knot the thread around the shank (not through the fabric), and then feed the end through the two layers of fabric and pull a little taut before clipping. The end then magically disappears between the layers.

No change in your sewing skills will give you as much immediate pleasure as trying this technique out. Promise.