How to Sew Buttons and Buttonholes by Sewing Machine

Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial

 

How To Sew Buttons on By Machine

All our sewing machine feet are available HERE


Attaching a functioning button by machine really is simple. It just needs 2 little sewing machine feet, so start off by unclipping your current foot.

To make the buttonhole, you can use this presser foot with either a 1 step or 4 step buttonhole setting. A 4 step buttonhole setting on a sewing machine should look something like this.

First you need to decide how big you need your buttonhole to be for the button to fit through. To do that, place your button in the buttonhole presser foot (or if it is too big, next to the attachment) at the end which is closest to you. Note the markings on the side of the attachment are there to help you remember the size of your button. You don't have to only make buttonholes at a marked level. Don't forget that this is the standard way to measure for a flat button.  Raised buttons marry need more room, so it's always best to practice on a scrap of fabric first to make sure the button will go through.

A one step buttonhole does the whole buttonhole for you, but the 4 step
buttonhole needs you to manually change stitches. So I will show you how
to do that.

Set the attachment at the length of your button and select stitch 'a/c'. This will sew a side to side. You need this to be anchored in well or when you open your buttonhole it could break and the material could rip. So I would sew at least 6 times.

Next, select stitch 'd'. This sews a right sided zigzag stitch and brings you to the front of your buttonhole. Note that your stitch length will effect your zigzag. You will rarely find a satin stitch used on a buttonhole, but I would recommend a short stitch length.

Step 3 is a repeat of step 1, but this time you are just at the other end of the buttonhole.

Finally, select stitch 'b'. This is a left sided zigzag that will bring you back to where you started.

I prefer to always sew a buttonhole twice over so I know it can withstand heavy usage.

The only thing you have left to do is open up your buttonhole. Ideally using a seam ripper (or scissors) slide down the centre of the material being careful not to cut the end stitches.

Your buttonhole is now complete, so let's move on to the button itself. To use the button attaching foot you must either lower or cover your feed dogs depending on your machine type. This is because you need to stitch on the spot so you don't want your machine pulling your fabric away from you. If you have covered your feed dogs, don't forget to pull your bobbin thread up through the opening in the cover.

Select a zigzag stitch then by hand, lower and raise the needle until you have the stitch width needed for the needle to go into each buttonhole. You may need to jiggle the angle of the button under the foot to get it lining up perfectly.

Then start sewing. The amount of times you go through the button will depend on its use, but I would recommend again, a minimum 6 times into each button hole. If your button has to go through a thick fabric or lots of layers you may wish for your button to be freer from the fabric so that once it is pulled through, it sits comfortably on top. You are more likely to be able to do this by machine if you can lower your feed dogs as often the cover for feed dogs takes up too much space, so a spacing item wont fit. If you do have plenty of space under the button and presser foot, simply place something narrower than the width of the holes under the button between the holes (eg. A chopstick), to raise the button away from the fabric as you stitch. To reduce the chance of it slipping, lower the needle by hand for the first couple of stitches. I prefer to reinforce this by looping thread around the thread under the button a few times and tying a knot by hand immediately after removing the item, before it has time to slacken.


Your button is now ready for use!

We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment or send me an email to linda@sewingbeefabrics.co.uk

Make your own ruffled skirt

Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial

How To Make A Ruffled Skirt From Old Shirts

When my husband decided he had finished with 2 matching shirts, I thought it would be wrong not to keep them together, so with a little bit of patterned  fabric, this skirt was created.

What you will need
2 long sleeve shirts ( the body of the shirt needs to easily fit over
your hips)
Contrasting fabric (mine was approx. 110cm x 50cm)
Enough wide elastic to comfortably fit around your waist.
A lot of matching thread

How to make it:
First, make the under skirt by cutting straight across one shirt just underneath the armpits. Then, remove the thickened fabric with the buttons and buttonholes, being sure to stash the buttons for another project! If the shirt is giant compared to your hips, you will probably want to trim the edge more so it fits over your hips with a couple of inches to spare.

Hem the top and bottom.

Now for the ruffles! You want 4 pieces that are approximately 10cm wide, and the length 1 1/2 times the width of your under skirt from the remaining shirt fabric. You will also want one the same size from your patterned fabric. You will also want one other piece from the patterned material the same width but the length only needs be as long as your under skirt is wide.

Hem top and bottom of each long side on the 5 long strips, but only the bottom needs hemming on the shorter patterned piece.

Pass each through the ruffler  foot on the sewing machine. I used the deepest pleat setting on every 12th stitch with an average stitch length. To make this skirt without a ruffler foot, you can sew a long stitch length then gently pull the tread ends to gather the fabric to the desired amount. Be careful though as pulling too hard can make the thread snap.

Now here comes the fun part - piecing it all together. Start with the shorter piece. Place it right side facing your main section and sew a seam right along the top.

Flip the patterned piece over and top stitch along the top edge. I used an over-edge sewing machine foot as my guide to sew the top stitch at 1/8th inch distance.

Now using a temporary fabric marker, draw yourself lines about every 7-8cm. There needs to be a slight overlap of ruffles.

Line each ruffled strip up with a line and sew in place.

Now take a piece of elastic and try it around your waist. Cut to the desired length and line up centrally underneath the top patterned piece.

Pin in place centrally, then gently stretch and pin in place on each side so the ends of the elastic reach the ends of the fabric.

Sew the elastic in place top and bottom using a 3 step zig zag stitch while keeping the stretch on the elastic (standard zig zag is less able to move with the elastic).

Fold the patterned piece back over and sew a running stitch under the elastic line to form a casing for the elastic. In retrospect, I should also have sewn another line of running stitch to hold the top piece covering the top ruffle seam as this has a tendency of getting folded up on wearing.


Fold the skirt in half with ruffles facing inwards and pin the side seam.

Trim away any excess down the side then sew your side seam and overstitch the edge to prevent fraying.

Turn it the other way around and look pleased with yourself!

We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment or send me an email to linda@sewingbeefabrics.co.uk