Sewing buttonholes in relation to button placement and centre front
- MingMakes
- Jun 27
- 4 min read
I made a second wearable toile of my bodice block to check additional fitting adjustments. It is a simple self-drafted blouse, with bust darts and back waist darts. I chose to sew horizontal buttonholes to reduce the risk of them popping open under tension especially at the bust. Since the main aim of this garment was to check the fit, it was important to me that the front centrelines overlapped correctly. This required the position of the buttons and buttonholes to be sewn accurately.
Positioning of the buttons is straightforward along the centre front line. What I describe below is how I positioned the buttonholes to ensure the button sits along the centre front of the overlapping side once done up. The theory is the same for horizontal and vertical buttonholes, but I share notes on both.
Horizontal buttonholes
Prepare the fabric
I replicated the layers that the buttonhole would be sewn into including interfacing, to ensure an accurate sample.
Mark the centreline and base of the buttonhole
I used the automatic buttonhole setting on my machine, which starts at the nearside of the buttonhole and sews away from you. I used a Prym Aqua Trick Marker as this only needs a dab of water to remove, and used the extra fine tip for more accuracy.
I made the base line (the vertical line to the left) longer than needed, so that once the buttonhole was sewn I could see exactly where the buttonhole stitching would be in relation to the needle starting at the intersecting point. Once the stitching was in place, it would be hard to see but I was fussy enough to want to know if the bulk of the bar tack overlapped this, and if so by how much. I didn't mark the finish line as this is dependent on the button diameter, the machine will determine this.
Sew a test buttonhole
I placed the needle right in the centre of the markings so the result was reproducible. I noted that the end of the buttonhole didn't extend beyond the start line.
Sew the button onto some scrap fabric
Again ideally this is done in a way to replicate how this would be on the final garment ie. with the relevant layers of fabric and interfacing, and including the button shank. I didn't do this here, but it came to mind afterwards. I experimented with a cute stitching pattern as suggested by Sarah Veblen, which I thought nicely echoed the leaf motif on the fabric.
Do the sample button up and mark the centre of the button
Place the button through the buttonhole in your chosen orientation. Give it a gentle pull to replicate where it would sit. Then mark a line level with the centre of the button. This line indicates where centre front should be in relation to the buttonhole.
Measure this distance from the start of the buttonhole
This is how far the start of your buttonhole needs to be from centre front. In this case it was exactly 1cm.
Mark this on your fabric
Sew the buttonholes
I basted the facing to the front bodice to ensure it stayed in place while sewing the buttonholes.
Here it is with the buttons done up. The top one was slightly off, as my machine didn't sew the buttonhole quite as accurately with the additional bulk of the seam allowance of the neckline.
Vertical buttonholes
I was wondering whether the button should be placed centrally within a vertical buttonhole, but after reading this Threads article, realised that there are benefits to siting it towards the top. This tends to reduce the risk of it coming undone or the fronts of the garment shifting.
This means that the process I use for vertical buttonholes is the same as for horizontal ones. Here is a quick summary of how I did this for my Simplicity 8014 dress.
Using scrap fabric to replicate the layers in the garment, I positioned the button close to the top of the buttonhole where I thought it might comfortably sit, without pulling it too tightly to the top.
I marked where the centre of the button sat in relation to the buttonhole.
On my dress, I had marked with tailors tacks the position of the top button, whose position was the most crucial. I lay my sample buttonhole onto the garment alongside centre front (this was a little faded so cannot be seen in the photo below but runs down the centre of the placket).
I lined up the button position on my sample, with the tailors tack on the garment indicating where the button should be, and then marked on the dress where the bottom of the buttonhole would be. This was then my guide when sewing the buttonhole on my machine.
Once the buttonholes were sewn, I used a marker through the buttonhole to mark the position of the button, ensuring this was level with the mark on my sample buttonhole.
Here is the finished result.
A review of this Simplicity 8014 dress will soon be published.
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