How do I sew on a button and fix a hem?

Two repairs that save more clothes than anything else, and neither needs a sewing machine.

Difficulty: beginner
Time: 20 min
Read: 2 min
Safety: caution

Short answer

A button takes five minutes with a needle, thread and no skill. A fallen hem takes ten. Between them they rescue most garments that get thrown away for being broken.

The two most common reasons a garment gets discarded are a lost button and a fallen hem, and both are among the easiest things to fix. Neither needs a machine and neither needs practice.

Safety

Keep needles and pins accounted for — a dropped pin in a carpet finds a foot eventually. Use a thimble for tough fabric rather than pushing a needle with a bare finger.

What you'll need

Needle
Thread matching the garment
Scissors
Pins (optional)
Thimble (optional)

Step by step

Match the thread to the garment.Colour and roughly the weight. A small basic sewing kit covers most eventualities and costs very little.
Thread the needle and knot the end.Cut the thread at an angle to thread it more easily. Double it over for a button — it is stronger and halves the passes. Knot both ends together.
For a button, start from underneath.Bring the needle up through the fabric where the button sits, so the knot is hidden underneath. Look at the other buttons for the position.
Sew through the holes several times.Up through one hole and down through the next, five or six times. Two-hole buttons straight across; four-hole either parallel or crossed — match the other buttons.
Leave a shank on thick fabric.Put a matchstick or a pin across the top of the button and sew over it, then remove it and wind the thread around the loose threads underneath. It gives the button room to sit over the buttonhole on a coat.
Finish underneath with several small stitches.Two or three stitches in the same place on the underside, then cut. A knot alone works loose.
For a hem, use a slip stitch.Pin the hem back in place first. Catch a single thread of the outer fabric, then run the needle through the folded edge for about a centimetre. Repeat. Only the tiny catch shows from outside.
Keep the tension loose on a hem.Pulling tight causes puckering that shows from the front. The stitches should hold without gathering the fabric.

Tips

Save the spare buttons that come with garments in one small box. Finding a matching button later is otherwise impossible.
Iron-on hemming tape is a legitimate quick fix and holds for a while. It is not as durable as stitching but it takes two minutes.
When a button comes off, check the others. They usually loosen at the same rate and tightening them takes minutes.

Questions people ask

How do I sew on a button?

Knot doubled thread, come up from underneath, sew through the holes five or six times matching the other buttons, and finish with small stitches on the underside.

How do I fix a fallen hem?

Pin it back in place and use a slip stitch — catch a single thread of the outer fabric then run the needle inside the folded edge. Almost nothing shows from outside.