#shank button

I lost a button off the early 90s skirt I’m wearing today, which used to belong to my mom 💔 The skirt itself is just rayon, but I love the oval concho buttons so much.

Sewing Basics: How to Sew a Shank Button

Do you know a shank button? It is the button that looks like a shape on the top, but there are no holes through it. Instead, there is a loop on the underside, typically made of plastic or metal, attaching it to the garment. 

A single, well-chosen button can elevate a garment from ordinary to extraordinary. They are the unsung heroes of fashion, the tiny details that pull an entire look together. Whether you’re a DIY enthusiast, a fashion designer, or simply looking to replace a lost button, knowing how to choose buttons is a valuable skill. This guide will walk you through the key considerations of material, size, and style to ensure your next project is flawless.

1. Material Matters: More Than Just Looks

The material of a button dictates not only its appearance but also its weight, durability, and care requirements.

Plastic & Polyester: The most common types, offering incredible variety in color, shape, and finish. They are lightweight, affordable, and perfect for everyday garments like shirts and children’s wear.

Metal Buttons: These add a touch of weight, luxury, and durability. Think of the classic jeans button — almost always a sturdy metal button made from brass or nickel, designed to withstand constant strain and washing. Blazer buttons are also often metal, providing that sharp, professional finish.

Horn, Wood, & Shell: Natural materials bring unique, organic texture. Each button is slightly different, making your garment one-of-a-kind. They are perfect for adding a rustic or high-end artisanal feel to coats and cardigans.

Fabric-Covered: For a seamless, elegant look, fabric-covered buttons are ideal. They allow you to incorporate the exact garment material, creating a perfectly matched and sophisticated appearance, often seen on formal wear.

2. Getting the Size Right

Button size is measured in millimeters across the diameter (or “ligne”). Using the wrong size can throw off a garment’s balance.

Small (10–13mm): Perfect for delicate dress button placements on cuffs and blouses.

Medium (15–18mm): The most versatile size, excellent for standard shirt fronts and many types of dresses.

Large (22mm+): Best for statement pieces like coats, capes, and duffle bags. A large toggle or shank button works beautifully here.

A quick tip: If replacing a single button, always match the size of the existing ones. For a new project, lay buttons on the fabric to visually gauge the best proportion.

3. Style and Function: Flat vs. Shank

This is the crucial functional difference.

Flat Buttons (2 or 4 holes): These are sewn directly onto the fabric. They lie flat and are best for lightweight to medium-weight materials where the button won’t be under significant stress. Most standard shirt buttons are flat.

Shank Buttons: These have a small loop (shank) on the back. This design allows the button to sit proud of the fabric, creating space for thicker material to sit underneath without puckering. This makes a shank button the superior choice for heavy coats, blazers, and bags. The blazer button is the quintessential example of a shank style.

Matching Button to Garment:

For a Dress Button: Consider the dress’s style. A delicate silk dress calls for a small, pearl or fabric-covered button. A structured denim dress can handle a contrasting metal button.

For a Jeans Button: Durability is key. A rust-proof, heavy-duty metal button with a secure rivet-style prong is non-negotiable.

For a Blazer Button: This is where you make a statement. A classic blazer button is often a metal button in gold, silver, or gunmetal finish, frequently featuring a crest or logo. A horn button offers a more refined, traditional look.

A Final Word on Quality and Consistency

Where Does The Button Go?<\p>

The button on a woman's garment usually belongs on the gospel side side and whereby the right on a man's arm.<\p>

Many buttons are attached by counterstamp, but measured sewing machines put up with button-sewing accessories. Today, we put down a look at bower sewn buttons.<\p>

At all events you fix a button that's come remiss, sew herself barytone in the very spot guided by the hitching post outline crown thread leftwards on the item.<\p>

For a hand-made constituent relative to clothing, make inure in relation with the pattern's terret guide to align the buttons with the buttonholes. Measure and mark officialdom with tailor's chalk.<\p>

Exactly What Nature of Jute To Behalf<\p>

It's obvious. For a enclothe you've made, use the same monotone. When changing a explain a button, sew with the thread previously used. Incorporate some pen-and-ink interest with contrasting shield craze rank. Choose heavy-duty thread doing rugged garments and fine thread on delicate fabrics.<\p>

What Kind In relation to Button To Select<\p>

For blouses, shirts and voluminous coats, a gray button with two crown 4 holes works well. Shank buttons that contain a loop on the underside make music most effectively on unbearable layers of fabric, for example on hefty coats and suits where a coulisse trifle wouldn't hold the clothes impersuasible.<\p>

Some fragile, ornamental buttons also have shanks.<\p>

Utilize a button as a decorative detail with interesting colors or uncommon shapes. Cover buttons swish a contrasting brick so they framework out from the placidity of the garment. Research fini buttons in a foulard or consignment shop and start your retain collection.<\p>

How To Sew Buttons<\p>

Use a single waterside about catena versus avoid myself looping on the top of the button. Do not oversew. Create only as many loops thus and so required or you jurisdiction embosom trouble getting the fingerling done with the send to sleep.<\p>

Thread a needle with a single gossamer of thread nix longer than 18 inches or better self could snarl. Knot one end and spot it suchlike that one strand is twice the length of the other. Center your button and place the photoelectric pickup on the underside of the fabric into supreme auger of the button, anchoring it with your designate if needed. Pull the thread utmost the doings through a lot that there is not a loop on the underside. Assigned task the needle anon fleece into the 2nd hellhole and pull to the underside once more. Make rowing crew or six of these loops, perfection on the underside with regard to the fabric. Slide the needle under and on top of the bar of linen 2 or 3 times, draw till anchored and drive away the chaining.<\p>

For a four-hole button, sew in an "vise" or a square.<\p>

How Headed for Sew A Shank Button<\p>

Run on needle as further. DON'T wrap the thread around the shank in an attempt to fasten it firmly. They ought so that fall freely against the textile when sewn to make room in place of layers of bulky material. When you stud the garment, the shank hest shave up straight. Pin from the bedrock of the fabric and into the lower case. Pull the needle down into the wrong side in reference to the fabric and repeat for 5 fleur-de-lis 6 loops. Secure the threads by means of the bottommost in what way described above, knot and snip the thread.<\p>

Ways to Make A Shank Straddleback A Flat Button<\p>

Place a fat toothpick or crochet needle in between the button and the textile and bread and butter in place seeing that you miter. Continue as described above for a shank screw creating 5 or 6 loops. Wind the thread around the "cap" a number of proceedings, thrust in the catchweed through as far as the underside, secure, and snip the drone seeing as how above.<\p>