Thread Length to Sew a Jacket Button

Series Summary

Button-like objects began to appear as early as 2800 BC, but were not properly used to functionally hold clothes closed until 13th or 14th century in Europe. There are different types of buttons that go by the names shank, covered, flat, worked, and mandarin buttons. Shank buttons have a small ring on the back of the button that is used to attach the button to clothing. Covered buttons are buttons that are covered in fabric that have a separate attachment that secures the button to the clothing. Flat buttons are the most common types of buttons that have two or four holes in them through which thread is sewn to attach the button to the clothing. Worked buttons are created by crocheting tight stitches over a form. Mandarin buttons are knobs made of knotted strings that are used as buttons.

Buttons come in all different sizes and shapes as you will see in this series of expert videos. Watch as our expert sews buttons on to men’s jackets, dress shirts and polyester pants. Watch step by step instructions on sewing back-looped buttons or shank buttons. Learn how to sew larger buttons onto terrycloth or how to thread length for snap buttons. Get basic tips on threading a needle and tying off the thread end after sewing on a button in these expert videos.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I’m Andrew on behalf of Expert Village.com and in this next clip I am going to be discussing how to determine the amount of thread you need to use when sewing a button onto a men’s long jacket made out of a polyester outside and silk lining on the inside. Now typically that we’ve marked our button it is time to decide the color of thread and usually we decide on something that goes with the outfit if you choose to show off the stitching or if you want to conceal it you would choose something that would be similar in color and shading to the outfit itself. But for this purpose because I want you to see what is going on I am choosing white thread. Now polyester typically is a little bit of a thicker material not so much as in pants. With jackets it tends to be a folded thin layer so it is not as thick as the pants that I showed earlier but you also have this silk lining. Silk is a lot more think but because it is doubled up against a double layer of polyester it is going to need a little bit of a thicker needle and a little bit more thread to reinforce the button. So what we are going to do is typically with cotton garments you would choose about 6 feet or so and double it up so you would have 3 feet of doubled thread. But we are going to double that because of the thickness of the garment and the fact that we are going to use twice as much to secure to fasten the button. So we are going to just cut off the thread and then thread our needle so that we can begin sewing on the button. "