Sewing Tip - Buttons

Sewing Friends:

I know that many of you are concerned about sending your garments with those beautiful buttons to the dry cleaner.  We try to cover them, but sometimes that doesn’t work very well.  And, no one wants to spend the time resewing buttons on time and again.  How do you solve this problem?

The answer is to make removable buttons. 

S writes:  “I have a question about attaching buttons to clothing (specifically, jackets) which can be removed for safe dry cleaning.  I’m a designer and use buttons and other types of embellishments which are hand crafted.  I’d like to be able to remove them when the garment is cleaned, while at the same time ensuring they are secure and stable enough to withstand normal wear (I.e., buttoning and unbuttoning).  My idea is to use a cufflink-type of design (2 buttons sewn together with a thread shank).  I’d be very interested to hear any other suggestions you might have.”

This is my answer: 

Your cuff link idea is a very good one.  I have used a thread shank to link 2 buttons together quite successfully.   Use a very flat small, simple button for the under button and do a buttonhole stitch over the thread shank or hand crochet a chain stitch like a swing tack or French tack linking the two buttons. 
 
Here is another idea for you.  Why not actually use cuff links?  I’ve done this, too.  You might have a pair around the house that you could use to glue on your handcrafted button or you can find gold and silver cuff links made just for this purpose.  They are 15mm round flat metal pads with cufflink backs. Glue flat buttons or coins or whatever you might have that you would like to make into a pair of cufflinks.   
 
Or, if the button isn’t flat and has a shank, use cuff link adaptors. 
 
Make any pair of buttons into cufflinks with cufflink adaptors.  Or take apart and recycle an old pair of cuff links.   Just slip your button shank onto the round hook and squeeze it closed with a plier. This is a very easy way to make cufflinks. The back hook already has the cufflink adaptor anchor attached.

For cuff link supplies, go to: 

In The Cuff CuffLinks

If you have any other suggestions for removable buttons, please let us know.

Make removable buttons to protect them from the dry cleaners.  It just makes sense! 

To Your Sewing Success,

Marian

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Sewing Tip - Buttons

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Sewing Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.