Free How to Sew a Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew by Erin Bried Page A

button on down the thread to meet the fabric.
    Step 5:
Once you’ve got your button in place and the holes lined up, push your needle down through the opposite hole (either diagonally or adjacently to match your other buttons) and out the back of the fabric. Repeat four times, pulling the thread tight enough so that your button doesn’t dangle but loose enough so that your fabric doesn’t pucker. If you have a four-hole button, switch hole-pairs and repeat.
    Step 6:
For the finishing touch, push your needle up through the back of the fabric to the front but
not
through any buttonholes. Just let it dangle out the side. Pull your button away from the fabric and wrap your thread tightly around the shank (aka the thread between the button and fabric) six times.
    Step 7:
Press your needle through the shank twice. Snip the thread—no need to knot.
    Step 8:
Get dressed, feel proud, look snazzy.

More Nifty Tips
Check inside your shirt for replacement buttons. Manufacturers, at least the nice ones, will stash a few extras inside, usually along the side or bottom seam.
If you lose a noticeable button, can’t find a replacement, and are just hanging in the wind, snip one from a less-conspicuous spot, like the very bottom of your shirt or a cuff, preferably one you’ll later roll up. That’ll buy you a little time to replace the button.
If you’re sewing a button onto a thicker fabric, place a match-stick or toothpick on the button and sew over it to help you maintain proper spacing. Then remove the spacer before winding the thread around the shank.

Measure Up

    “My mother made our clothes. She’d buy the material, but some people used flour sacks. No one was better than anyone else. That’s what you had and that was it.”
    —J EAN D INSMORE
H OW TO H EM Y OUR F ANCY P ANTS
    Step 1:
Round up your stuff: a needle, some thread that matches your pants, a handful of straight pins, an iron, a ruler, chalk or a pencil, and scissors. Fire up your iron. And find a full-length mirror.
    Step 2:
Slip on your too-long trousers, plus whatever fabulous shoes you intend to wear with them. On the outside of your right foot, fold your hem underneath so your pants hang a proper ¼ inch off the floor. Secure with two straight pins, placed horizontally, one at the top of the fold and one at the bottom. (Your pants will rise when you bend over so after you pin, stand up straight, arms by your sides, to double-check the length.)
    Step 3:
Take off your pants. Woo hoo! Sewing in your undies is fun! Peek inside your pinned pant leg and, using a ruler, measure the length of the material you’ve folded up inside. Using that measurement as your guide, fold up and pin around the entire leg. Repeat on the other pant leg.
    Step 4:
Iron your new hems on the inside of your pant leg, pressing to form a new crease. Try on your trousers again to triple-checkthe length. If they’re too long or short, no sweat! Just go back to step 2 and give it another whirl.
    Step 5:
Take off your pants, remove the pins, turn your pants inside out, and unfold your new hem. Don’t worry—the crease will remain. Then rip out the old hem by very carefully snipping every few stitches and removing the loose threads between snips.
    Step 6:
Lay your pants flat, in-seam to in-seam, and from the crease that marks your new hem, measure down 1¼ inches (for straight-legged pants) or ¾ inch (for tapered or flared pants). Mark it with chalk or a pencil in several places, connect dots with a straightedge, and then cut along that line to trim the excess. Fold your new bottom edge inward by ¼ inch and iron in that teensy crease so it’s nice and neat. (This whole razzle-madazzle will help prevent any frayed edges.)
    Step 7:
Now that you’re free from any excess pantage, fold up your new hem again, using your handy crease as your guide, and repin it every few inches, placing pins perpendicular to the new hem.
    Step 8:
Measure out about three feet of thread, roughly the distance