A hand sewn bound buttonhole is not merely an opening edged in fabric. It is a small tailored construction: two narrow lips frame the slit, their ends meet in neat corners, and the inside is finished so that the opening can bear use without fraying or pulling out of shape.
This method uses a separate patch of shell fabric. It is especially useful where a machine buttonhole would look heavy, where the cloth is too thick or too delicate for dense stitching, or where the garment calls for a quieter finish. Make one sample first. The few minutes spent learning how your particular cloth presses and turns will save the garment from an awkward first attempt.
What you will need
- Shell fabric for the garment
- A matching patch of shell fabric
- Lightweight interfacing suitable for the shell fabric
- Matching sewing thread
- A fine hand-sewing needle
- Tailor’s chalk or a removable fabric marker
- A ruler or seam gauge
- Small, sharp scissors
- An iron and pressing cloth
- A seam ripper, useful for careful corrections
Choose thread that disappears into the fabric rather than thread chosen for strength alone. A bound buttonhole is held chiefly by its construction and by the stabilised layers around it. Heavy thread can make the finished lips look clumsy.
Before you begin: plan the buttonhole
Buttonhole length should allow the button to pass through without forcing the lips apart. As a starting point, mark a line a little longer than the diameter of a flat button. For a thick button, shank button, or covered button, make a test opening in the same layers as the garment and adjust from there.
Mark the buttonhole on the garment’s right side with a single clear centre line. Then mark a small rectangle around it. The rectangle is the finished buttonhole area, not the size of the patch. Its width determines the depth of the two lips. For many tailored garments, a finished rectangle about 6 to 8 mm wide gives balanced lips, though the fabric and scale of the garment should decide the final proportion.
Keep the buttonhole away from seam allowances, dart ends, and bulky intersections where possible. On a waistband, waistcoat front, or jacket edge, check its position against the button before cutting anything.
Stabilise the garment
Cut a piece of lightweight interfacing large enough to extend at least 2 to 3 cm beyond every side of the marked rectangle. Apply or baste it to the wrong side of the garment, following the interfacing’s own instructions if it is fusible.
This backing matters. It supports the cut edges, helps the corners stay square, and prevents the lips from stretching into a soft oval with wear. Very loose weave, fine silk, or easily fraying cloth may benefit from a second light layer, but avoid building needless stiffness into a soft garment.
Photo by J Williams on Unsplash.
Prepare the separate patch
Cut a rectangle of shell fabric that is comfortably larger than the marked buttonhole. A patch about 5 cm longer and 4 cm wider than the finished opening is usually ample for a single buttonhole. If the fabric has a nap, obvious weave, stripe, or print, cut and position the patch in the same direction as the garment.
On the wrong side of the patch, mark the same centre line and finished rectangle that you marked on the garment. Accuracy here is more useful than speed: the patch markings and garment markings must meet exactly.
Place the patch right sides together with the garment, matching the centre lines and rectangle markings. Pin outside the marked area, where pins will not interfere with the stitching. If the fabric shifts readily, use a few hand basting stitches instead. Basting is often easier to control than pins when working with fine wool, silk, or slippery lining fabrics.
Sew and cut the opening
1. Stitch around the rectangle
With small backstitches, sew exactly around the marked rectangle. Keep the corners sharp and take short stitches there. The stitching line is the structural edge of the buttonhole, so do not sew vaguely beside the marks or round the corners.
A stitch length of roughly 1.5 to 2 mm is a useful scale for many medium-weight fabrics. In a very fine cloth, smaller stitches will make a cleaner edge. In thick wool, use stitches close enough to secure the corners but not so tight that they pucker the cloth.
Check the work from the right side before cutting. The rectangle should be straight, centred, and even in width.
2. Cut the centre and corners
Cut along the marked centre line, stopping about 6 mm from each short end of the stitched rectangle. From each end of the slit, cut diagonally into the two corners, creating a neat Y shape. Cut as close to the corner stitches as possible without cutting through them.
This is the decisive moment in making a bound buttonhole. If the diagonal cuts stop too far from the corners, the lips will not turn cleanly and the ends will look rounded. If they cut through the stitching, the corner can split. Use the smallest sharp scissors available, take one controlled snip at a time, and examine each point before continuing.
Photo by Ashley Diane Worsham on Unsplash.
3. Turn the patch through
Push the patch through the cut opening to the wrong side of the garment. Ease the little triangular ends through first, then draw the rest of the patch through without twisting it.
From the right side, use a needle point or a blunt awl to bring each corner into a clean square. Do not poke hard enough to bruise, pierce, or weaken the fabric. The goal is to settle the seam exactly on the stitched line.
Press lightly with a pressing cloth. At this stage, press the seam flat rather than trying to force the final lips into place. Let the fabric cool briefly after pressing so the crease can set.
Form the two bound lips
On the wrong side, spread the turned patch flat. The cut opening will now show as two long seam allowances at the top and bottom, with a small triangle at each end.
Fold the upper long seam allowance inward so that its folded edge meets the centre line of the opening. Fold the lower seam allowance upward in the same way. The two folds should meet exactly, with neither overlapping nor leaving a visible gap. These folded edges form the lips seen on the right side.
Use your fingers first, then press gently through the pressing cloth. Work from the wrong side and check the right side often. The two lips should be the same depth, lie flat, and run parallel from one end to the other.
Secure the ends
The small triangular pieces at each end hold the lips together. Working on the wrong side, fold one triangle toward the patch so it lies flat against the two folded seam allowances. Take several small backstitches across the base of the triangle, catching the folded lips securely. Do not pull the thread so tightly that the right-side corners draw inward.
Repeat at the other end. Turn the garment right side up and inspect the buttonhole. The ends should look squared, the lips should meet evenly, and the opening should be straight.
If one corner is uneven, correct it now. Often the problem is a diagonal cut that did not reach closely enough to the stitching, or a triangle that was caught too loosely. It is usually possible to unpick only the end stitches, adjust the corner, and sew it again without remaking the whole buttonhole.
Photo by Kris Atomic on Unsplash.
Finish the inside neatly
The patch now lies on the inside of the garment. It may be left as a self-fabric facing, but a lined buttonhole is generally neater and more comfortable, particularly in a jacket, waistcoat, or lined skirt.
If the garment will be lined, bring the lining over the opening after the bound buttonhole is complete. Mark the opening from the wrong side, cut a matching slit with diagonal cuts at the ends, and turn the lining’s cut edges under. Slipstitch the lining neatly to the back of the bound buttonhole, keeping all stitches invisible from the right side.
For an unlined garment, trim the patch only after the corners are secure. Leave a generous margin around the stitched rectangle; cutting the patch too close can weaken the buttonhole. Press the patch flat and, if needed, secure its outer edges to the interfacing or seam allowances with a few loose catchstitches. Avoid stitching through to the right side.
Test and press
Before the buttonhole is put into regular use, test it with the actual button. Pass the button through gently. It should go through with slight resistance, but it should not require force. If the opening is too tight, lengthen it a fraction at one end from the wrong side, cutting only along the centre slit and never into the stitched corners.
Give the finished buttonhole a final careful press. Use a pressing cloth, especially on wool, silk, dark fabrics, or cloth with a raised surface. Press from the wrong side where possible, then give the right side only a light touch. A heavy iron can flatten the lips and leave an unwanted shine.
Common mistakes and their remedies
Uneven lips
Uneven lips usually come from inconsistent folding rather than inaccurate stitching. Open the work from the wrong side, refold the wider lip to the centre line, and press before resecuring the end triangles.
Rounded or gaping corners
Rounded corners often mean the diagonal cuts did not reach near enough to the rectangle corners. If there is still fabric between the cut and the stitching, clip a little closer with sharp scissors. Work slowly: one extra cut is safer than cutting into the seam.
A buttonhole that pulls open
Pulling usually indicates insufficient stabilisation, a patch that was sewn too loosely, or end triangles that were not firmly secured. Reinforce the inside with a small piece of lightweight interfacing and resew the end bar stitches by hand, taking care not to distort the front.
Visible hand stitches
Stitches show when they catch the outer garment layer. For the lining and inside patch, use fine slipstitches that pick up only a thread or two of the backing fabric. On the right side, the bound lips themselves should hide the construction stitches.
A final note on practice
A bound buttonhole improves with repetition because the hand learns the sequence: mark, stitch, clip, turn, fold, secure, press. Make samples in the actual garment fabric, with the same interfacing and number of layers. Keep the best sample beside the work as a reference for lip width and corner shape.
The finished buttonhole should not call attention to its labour. Its pleasure lies in the opposite quality: two narrow, even strips of cloth, a clean opening, and a finish that appears to have belonged to the garment from the beginning.