I finally figured out why my button placement was always off on fitted tops

I spent a good 3 hours last Saturday frustrated with a shirt I was making for a friend's birthday. The buttons kept pulling and the placket looked all wavy, like a bad curtain (you know the kind). Turns out, I was putting the buttonholes way too close to the edge of the fabric. I measured it out and moved them about a quarter inch inward on my next try, and it laid completely flat. Such a small fix but it totally changed the drape of the whole top. Has anyone else had luck with adjusting buttonhole placement to fix fit issues on more fitted pieces?

4 comments

4 Comments

drews5511d agoProlific Poster

Dude, YES. I had the exact same issue with a blouse I was making last month. Moved the buttonholes in just a hair and it was like magic - stopped puckering completely. It's wild how something that small can make or break a whole project.

nancyramirez11d ago

Wait, @brooke448 I gotta ask - has anyone else ever sewn a buttonhole so crooked it looked like it was drunk and wandering off the placket? lol. I shifted mine by maybe 1/8 inch and it was like the whole blouse went from "amateur hour" to "okay, maybe I know what I'm doing." Seriously, that tiny move fixed the gape and the puckering, and I felt like a genius for about five minutes before I realized I sewed the collar on backwards.

brooke44811d ago

Did you have to move your button stand width too?

kevinw9411d ago

Had a friend whose buttonholes were so far off the placket her shirt looked like it was trying to escape.