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Once I taught a sewing class at my daughter’s school and one of the helpers there told me he had friends who would throw shirts away because they didn’t know how to sew a button if one fell off.
I hope that’s not true, but I imagine it probably is. The good news is, sewing a button on a shirt is quick and easy to do, and if it keeps some otherwise great garments out of the landfill, so much the better.
Getting Ready to Sew a Button
If your button has fallen off and you have it, use that button to sew back on the shirt. If you don’t have the button from the shirt, it may have come with an extra button either in a little envelope or that’s sewn to the tag.
When there’s no matching button to take, you can buy buttons at craft stores, big box stores or online. You might not find a perfect match in terms of color, but the size should be the same (measure across the center of the button from one side to the other to determine the size button you need).

If the button is just loose and hasn’t fallen off yet, that’s the best time to sew it back on, which is the case in this example.

Regardless of whether the button is still on the shirt, there will probably be some threads where the button was originally sewn. You’ll want to remove them. You should be able to just pull them out, or cut carefully with a small pair of scissors.
How to Sew a Button

Now that the area is clear, grab some sewing thread the same color as what was used to originally sew the buttons. I used black thread. That item linked is actually a great one if you don’t have sewing supplies, because it includes black and white thread and a variety of sewing needles.
Alternatively you can buy sewing needles separately. You’ll need one with a small eye that can go through the holes on your button while threaded. Having a variety of sewing needles is always a good idea.

Cut a piece of thread about as long as your arm. Thread the needle and move the needle down the thread so it’s roughly in the middle. Fold the thread in half, tail ends together, and tie a knot.

Use the holes in the shirt from where the button was originally to guide placement. Take the needle through the fabric from back to front through one of these holes and pull until the knot is right against the fabric on the back.

Slide the button onto the needle and down so it is against the fabric on the front.
Here we’re looking at a four-hole button. Usually buttons have two or four holes; if yours only has two holes, just stitch back and forth between those two holes.

On this shirt the button is sewn with an x pattern, so we’ll do that, too. Take the needle through the hole in the button diagonally opposite the hole you started in, and pull the needle through the button and the fabric from front to back. Don’t pull too tightly, but it should be snug.

Go back up through the fabric and button, this time in a hole that doesn’t yet have thread.

Then go back down through the button and fabric using the last hole in the button.

Repeat this process a few times (I like to go through each hole four or five times).
Button the shirt to make sure the button isn’t too loose or too tight.
When you’re finished sewing the button, take the needle through the button and fabric from front to back one last time if you need to.

Tie a knot back here or just take the needle under the thread left from sewing the button a few times.

Trim the thread close to the shirt, being careful not to cut through any stitching or fabric.
And there you have it. Now you know how to sew a button and keep your clothes looking good. Need to replace a button on a coat? Learn how to sew a button and make it like a shank-style button to keep it secure longer.
