“No Sew” method of attaching buttons

 

Buttons attached to button band without sewing
Buttons attached to button band without sewing

Have you ever thought about attaching your buttons directly onto a sweater button band as you knit/crochet, rather than sewing them on afterwards? I did that a number of years ago when making Medrith Glover’s Circumnavigated Cardigan. The unique construction of this sweater produces a totally seamless garment. Yay! no seams to sew. (Which I usually do try to avoid anyway unless there is a trade-off that warrants sewing as the lesser of two evils — also see To Seam or Not to Seam).

Pulling a loop of yarn through the button shank
Pulling a loop of yarn through the button shank

As I neared the final steps of the sweater though, I realized that there would still be buttons to sew on. That got me thinking about making this project into a totally “new sew” one. My approach was to actually knit the buttons into the band. While knitting the band, when I reached a place where a button was to be attached, I just

  1. pulled up a loop of yarn through the button shank,
  2. placed that loop on the working needle, then
  3. knitted the extra loop and next stitch together. Voila — button attached and no sewing to be done later.

    Detail of button knitted directly into the button band
    Detail of button knitted directly into the button band

Some points —

  • This method is appropriate only for buttons with shanks.
  • To pull up the loop of yarn through the button shank, I used a small crochet hook (or you could use a small piece of bent wire).
  • I would only recommend this technique be used with a sturdy yarn and a relatively firmly knitted button band.
  • A similar approach could be used with a crocheted button band.

So that’s a little about attaching buttons to a sweater band while knitting or crocheting. Tuck it metaphorically into your knitting bag of tricks and it just might come in handy some day for a “when you’re done, you’re done” project.

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3 thoughts on ““No Sew” method of attaching buttons”

  1. That’s a great idea, thank you for that. I always sew my buttons on with the yarn that I used,and I split the yarn if it is too thick.

    I’m always open to learn new tricks, so keep them coming.

  2. Thank you for telling me about this! I hate sewing buttons onto handknits but this will make it so much easier. Thank you, thank you!

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