• Introduction    
  • Tools and Supplies    
  • Sewing Notes    
  • Safety Notes    
  • Material Selection    
  • Getting the Pattern    
  • From Duct Tape 
    to Cardboard
       
  • Pattern Adjustments   
  • Cutting out the Pieces   
  • Preparing the Sole   
  • Starting Construction   
  • Assembling The Back   
  • Applying The Lacing Blocks   
  • Making Buttons   
  • Attaching the back to 
    the front
       
  • Cementing the Upper 
    to the Sole
       
  • Sewing the Upper 
    to the Sole
       
  • Attaching the Rubber Sole   
  • Sewing on the Buttons   
  • Lacing Up   
  • Glossary 
         
  • Design Home   
  • Sewing on the Buttons

    Almost there...

    It might seem a little silly to have a page just for the subject of sewing on buttons. However, it often surprises me that there are people in this world who can make anything you might ask them to: a bodice, a suit of armor, a room addition, a weapon of mass destruction, but can't sew on a button.

    There is actually a method to it, and hopefully the illustrations here help. The buttons need to be placed staggered with the button blocks, with the first one placed just above the first lacing block, the one built into the heel block.

    Punch two holes about a quarter inch apart in the button block where the button will go. Using VERY heavy thread (I like the stuff you buy at Tandy that they supply with the stitching awl - waxed nylon, I think), sew through the button and the button block four times, leaving 'tails' about four inches long on each side, and a 'shank' of 3/8" or so, as shown.

    Click to see the full image...
    Click to see the full image... Take the 'tails' and wrap them around the 'shank', one at a time, one clockwise, the other wickershins. That done, yank 'em tight and tie them in a square knot and trim them off. Leave a little on, 1/4" or so. The button will hide it, and the thread will be less likely to 'just work loose'.

    Lacing Up

     

     

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