Buttons, Buttonholes, and Zippers: A Beginner's Guide to Closures

Ask any group of beginner sewists what intimidates them most, and you'll hear two things more than anything else: zippers and buttonholes.

Which is interesting, because these are also the techniques that, once learned, get used constantly — on bags, garments, pouches, and everything in between. The fear is real, the reputation is somewhat earned, and the reality is that both are much more manageable than the reputation suggests — once someone walks you through the actual steps.

Here's a clear breakdown of the three main closures you'll encounter in sewing — buttons, buttonholes, and zippers — how each one works, and what makes each feel hard before it feels easy.

Buttons: Simpler Than They Look, More Important Than They Seem

Sewing on a button by hand is the most basic sewing skill there is — and yet it's one of the most practically valuable. A button that's fallen off a beloved shirt, a jacket button that's loose, a coat that needs a replacement — all of these are five-minute fixes once you know how.

Sewing a flat button by hand: Thread a hand needle with a length of thread doubled over (so you're sewing with two strands), and knot the end. Bring the needle up through the fabric at the button placement mark, through one hole in the button, down through the adjacent hole, and back through the fabric. Repeat several times — typically six to eight passes — to build a strong attachment. On the final pass, bring the thread between the button and the fabric rather than through it; wind the thread around the shank you've created several times to build a post, then secure with a few small stitches on the wrong side of the fabric and knot off.

The shank — that small post of wrapped thread between button and fabric — is not decorative. It creates space for the fabric on the other side of the buttonhole to sit flat when the garment is closed. Buttons sewn without a shank create a pulled, strained look at the button band.

Shank buttons (those with a loop on the back rather than holes through the face) are attached similarly, but without needing to create a thread shank — the metal or plastic shank does that job.

Machine-sewn buttons: Many modern sewing machines have a button-sewing setting — the feed dogs drop, the button is held in place by the presser foot, and the machine zigzags through the holes a set number of times. Fast, consistent, and strong. Worth learning if your machine has this feature.

Buttonholes: Demystifying the Most Feared Technique

The buttonhole's fearsome reputation comes largely from the fact that it's a one-shot technique: you cut the opening after sewing, and if something went wrong in the sewing, you find out at the worst possible moment.

The good news: modern sewing machines have made buttonholes dramatically more reliable. Most machines made in the last twenty or thirty years have a built-in buttonhole foot and a one-step or four-step buttonhole function that does the hard work for you.

How a machine buttonhole works: A buttonhole is a rectangle of dense, narrow zigzag stitching surrounding a slit opening. It consists of two bars of satin stitch running the length of the opening, joined at each end by a bar tack. The sewing machine stitches these components in sequence; your job is to guide the fabric and set the length correctly.

Sizing: Measure your button — its diameter plus its thickness. The buttonhole should be slightly larger than this combined measurement, typically by about 1/8 inch, so the button passes through without strain.

Interfacing: This is the step most beginners miss and most teachers emphasize. The fabric at a buttonhole needs to be reinforced with interfacing — a fusible or sew-in stiffening material — before the buttonhole is sewn. Without it, the stitches have nothing firm to grip, the fabric distorts as the machine sews, and the finished buttonhole puckers or pulls. With interfacing, the stitches sit cleanly and the opening cuts crisply.

Cutting the opening: Use a sharp seam ripper or small embroidery scissors. Work from each end toward the center, using a pin at the center to stop before you cut through the bar tack. This is the moment that feels irreversible — and it is — but with a properly sewn and interfaced buttonhole, it almost always goes exactly right.

Zippers: Predictable Once You Understand the Logic

Zippers have the most elaborate reputation in sewing, and they earn some of it — a poorly installed zipper is visible and frustrating. But the technique, once understood and practiced, is entirely learnable, and the satisfaction of a cleanly installed zipper is one of the genuine pleasures of the craft.

There are several zipper types and several installation methods. For beginners, the most useful starting points are:

The centered zipper: installed in a seam, with equal fabric on each side of the zipper teeth, giving a symmetrical appearance on the outside. Common in skirts, dresses, and cushion covers.

The lapped zipper: one side of the fabric laps over the zipper teeth, hiding them completely on the outside. Standard in trousers and skirts; a bit more involved than the centered zipper but widely used.

The zipper-in-a-pouch: installing a zipper as the opening of a bag or pouch, usually a separating or continuous zipper. This is typically the first zipper installation taught in beginner classes, because it's more forgiving than a zipper in a garment seam — the fabric doesn't have to align to a body, just to itself.

The key to zipper success:

Basting (temporary stitching) before you commit. Sewing the zipper seam with long machine stitches first, pressing it, and checking the appearance before you sew the real seam gives you a clear picture of whether the alignment is right — and basting stitches are easy to remove if it isn't.

A zipper foot. A standard presser foot can't sew close enough to zipper teeth to produce a neat result. A zipper foot (which sits to one side of the needle, allowing it to sew right beside the teeth) is essential. Every machine comes with one; if it's buried in a bag of accessories somewhere, find it.

Pressing at every stage. Press the fabric before you baste. Press after basting. Press after the final seam. Pressed seams sit flat and aligned; unpressed ones shift and pucker, and a zipper installed in unpressed fabric rarely lies straight.

Invisible zippers: the technique where the zipper coil is pressed back and the zipper stitched to the seam allowance before the seam is closed, making the zipper invisible from the outside — require a specific presser foot and a slightly different approach. Beautiful when done correctly; typically an Intermediate-level skill.

Where to Learn These Skills

All three closures appear in Unfold Den's class curriculum at different levels. Zippers are introduced in Session 3 of the Intro to Sewing course — a quilted zippered pouch that puts the zipper-in-a-pouch technique front and center in a real, usable project. Buttonholes and buttons appear as skills build into garment construction.

The best way to learn any of these techniques is with a machine in front of you and someone nearby who can watch your setup before you sew. That's exactly what small-group instruction provides.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the most common reason a buttonhole fails? Usually missing interfacing, incorrect sizing, or a machine tension that's not quite right for the dense satin stitching. All of these are diagnosable and fixable.

Do I need a special foot for buttonholes? Yes — a buttonhole foot, which typically came with your machine. Different machines use different buttonhole foot styles; check your manual to know which you have.

What's the easiest zipper for a first project? A zipper in a pouch opening — flat, without a garment seam to manage simultaneously. This is the first zipper installation in Unfold Den's Intro to Sewing curriculum for exactly this reason.

Can I install a zipper without a zipper foot? Technically, but the results will show it. A zipper foot is a basic and essential accessory; if you don't have yours, replacement feet are widely available for most machine brands.

My machine does buttonholes automatically — do I still need to learn the manual method? The automatic function is reliable and fast; understanding the underlying structure (two bar tacks, two columns of satin stitch) is still valuable for troubleshooting when something goes wrong.

Browse available Intro to Sewing sessions on the Unfold Den Sewing Workshops Calendar. Zippers are in the curriculum from Session 3 of Intro to Sewing. We're at 3555 Pecos Street in Denver's Highlands.