Do you have one of those shirts that’s so comfortable and flattering that you wear it at least ten times as often as any of your other clothes?
This wine-red American Eagle shirt with fabric-covered buttons is one of those for me. After being worn a bazillion times, it recently lost one of its buttons.
Fortunately, there was extra fabric below the collar (where the label was printed on the back inside yoke) that I could use to make a new fabric-covered button.
I found a button that was about the size of the ones on the shirt and cut a circle of fabric out from the inner yoke. (You can buy special forms for making fabric-covered buttons
Because I would be covering the button with fabric, I wouldn’t be able to sew it to the shirt the traditional way. So I used a piece of wire to create a loop by which I would attach the button to the shirt.
I bent the ends of the wire to stabilize it.
I did a running stitch on the edges of the fabric circle and laid the scrap wool and button at its center. I pulled the running stitch, drawing the fabric tight around the button.
The fabric on the new button was a little bigger and darker than the other buttons, the latter probably because it was on the inside and had never been exposed to the sun. So I attached the new button as the top button – that way, the small differences look like they’re intentional.
Thanks! I needed this tutorial. It was so helpful.
Yay! I always wonder if I’ve included enough photos and steps to make sense, so it’s good to know I did in this case. I’m glad this helped!