Sewing Argyll Jacket buttons

[GeoP]

How exactly do you sew onto the Argyll Jacket the square buttons that have the wee stem on them?

[ShaunMaxwell]

Do a search on YouTube for sewing on a button with a shank and you’ll find many videos.

Cheers,

SM

[cheffiejeffie]

Sewing on stem buttons, such as on jackets, isn't hard.
1)use thicker thread, upholstery thread or embroidery thread in poly are easiest to get at your local sewing store.
2) for a jacket use a larger needle, upholstery or leather to make life easier on yourself, small leather triangle repair needle will go through thick material the easiest.
3) thread needle (suggested ones have bigger eyes )with 2 to 4 strands of thread somewhere between an arms length to a bow draw length. This is for both strength and to reduce the number of passes through fabric.
4)tie all the thread ends together, I prefer a figure 8, but granny is good enough. The knot should be large enough to keep from pulling through the fabric.
5)take needle, make a first round through fabric right where the button goes, starting on outside of jacket going inside and back out as close together as possible.
6)pass needle through stem of the button, and make another round through fabric
7)hold button stem between your first 2 fingers between button and fabric, to maintain proper spacing, and pull thread tight.
8)repeat steps 6 & 7 another 5 or 6 times.
9)pass needle through the center of thread loop between button & fabric.
10)wrap thread around loop between button & fabric 8 times clockwise.
11)make a loop around your finger & twist loop with finger in it twice.
12)pass needle through finger loop & pull tight careful to have it snug tight on button threads.
13)trim loose threads, careful not to cut button thread.

hope that helps, though there are videos on yt from seville row tailors showing how to do proper buttons and buttonholes

[GeoP]

Thank you...it all looks so simple now..I had just never seen a shank button before

[OC Richard]

The tricky part is getting them all going exactly the same way!

Here's a thread I did delving into the Gaelic inscription on these buttons

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ons-say-97809/

I should point out that these are Evening Dress jacket buttons, and are standard nowadays for all Evening Dress jacket styles

Prince Charlie Coatee
dress Argyll
Montrose shell jacket
Regulation Doublet
Kenmore Doublet
Sheriffmuir Doublet

and anything else the makers can come up with.

BTW it's common nowadays for all the buttons, both the functional ones that go through buttonholes and the nonfunctional ones that are sewn onto the surface, to have the same shanks.

Tailors in the old days would have found this unacceptable, because the long shanks on the buttons sewn onto the surface makes the buttons stick out and flop around in a sloppy way.

They had two ways of making the nonfunctional surface buttons lay flat and neat

1) sew the buttons directly on the surface but use buttons with very short shanks. (These are more difficult to sew on.)

2) have a small round buttonhole in the surface, the button passing through and being held by a Cotter Pin on the backside.

The advantage of the second option is that you can easily swap out buttons.

[Tobus]

The tricky part is getting them all going exactly the same way!

Are they even supposed to be aligned? I've never seen such, and have operated under the impression that whichever way they orient themselves is fine.

[OC Richard]

I was mainly meaning having the orientation make a diamond shape rather than have them oriented randomly.

The nice jackets I've owned have been done that way.

About the design, yes, I've seen jackets with the lion oriented the same way on all the buttons.

In like manner regimental buttons are all aligned in the same upright manner, on army jackets I've seen.

With the non-square, actually diamond-shaped ones there's only two ways a button can go, rightside up or upside down. These, at least, have all the shapes aligned, but we can't see the design.

[Verity]

Tailors in the old days would have found this unacceptable, because the long shanks on the buttons sewn onto the surface makes the buttons stick out and flop around in a sloppy way.

They had two ways of making the nonfunctional surface buttons lay flat and neat

1) sew the buttons directly on the surface but use buttons with very short shanks. (These are more difficult to sew on.)

2) have a small round buttonhole in the surface, the button passing through and being held by a Cotter Pin on the backside.

The advantage of the second option is that you can easily swap out buttons.

As a child I was told that the cotter pin method was preferable because you can remove the buttons if you need to 1) clean the jacket or 2) polish the silver buttons. That way whatever you are doing doesn't damage the other material.

Verity