How to Add a New Buttonhole After the Fact

When do you need a new buttonhole?

Sometimes a garment simply lacks a buttonhole where you need one. The method is the same whatever the reason: measure, stabilise, stitch, and cut open last. The most common cases are:

• You want to add an extra buttonhole – for a belt, a strap, or to fasten a jacket higher.
• The garment has a fake or decorative buttonhole you want to turn into a working one.
• You have altered or taken in a garment, and the fastening needs to move.
• A home-sewn garment is missing its buttonholes entirely.

Measure and place the buttonhole correctly

The length of the buttonhole is set by the button, not the fabric. A good rule is the button's diameter plus its thickness, then add a couple of millimetres so the button slips through without sticking. A thick or domed button needs a little more. Placement decides how well it holds:

• Run the buttonhole horizontally where the garment takes strain – like a shirt band or a jacket front. The seam then absorbs the pull, and the button settles at the end nearest the edge.
• Run it vertically on a narrow placket with little strain, where buttons sit in a row.
• Mark it with tailor's chalk or an erasable pen, and double-check the length against the button before you stitch.

Method 1: buttonhole by hand

A hand-worked buttonhole takes time, but comes out strong and neat, and all you need is a needle and thread.

1. Add a layer of interfacing (iron-on or sewn-in) behind the fabric where the buttonhole will go. It stops the edge stretching and fraying.
2. Mark the length, and sew a tight row of small running stitches around the whole outline, just outside the mark. This holds everything in place and gives the edge something to stitch against.
3. Cut the slit down the middle, along the mark, with small scissors or a seam ripper.
4. Work buttonhole stitch closely all around the opening: bring the needle up through the fabric, loop the thread under the needle, and pull so the knot sits along the cut edge.
5. Finish with a bar tack at each end – a few tight cross-stitches that lock the ends and stop the buttonhole tearing further.

Method 2: buttonhole on a sewing machine

If you have a sewing machine, the buttonhole foot does most of the work – most machines have either a four-step or an automatic one-step function.

1. Fix interfacing behind the fabric, and lay a tear-away stabiliser underneath so the stitches come out even.
2. Put the button in the holder at the back of the buttonhole foot if your machine sizes automatically – it will then stitch the buttonhole exactly long enough.
3. Sew the buttonhole in one go. The machine lays two tight zig-zag rows with a bar tack at each end.
4. Pull the threads to the back and knot or secure them.
5. Cut the opening last: place a pin crosswise inside each end, and cut between the two rows with a seam ripper up to the pin. The pins stop the blade so you do not cut through the ends.

When should a tailor make the buttonhole?

A buttonhole is cut into the fabric, so a slip shows – which is exactly why some buttonholes are worth handing over. On visible, tailored garments like coats, suit jackets and shirts in fine fabric, in thick or multi-layer fabric, in leather, or on a bunad, a tailor's buttonhole comes out neater and more durable than most people manage by hand the first time. The same goes for keyhole buttonholes on outerwear and corded buttonholes made to hold their shape. If you want to be sure of the result, you can send the garment to us anywhere in Norway. You order online, and you see the price before you order.

Frequently asked questions