Sewing on a button with a sewing machine is much easier than hand sewing buttons. Hand sewing can be so tedious, especially if you have a lot. You don’t need to hand sew buttons, you can use your sewing machine. You just need a button presser foot and to make sure your machine is on the correct setting. I use a brother sewing machine, so yours may look slightly different than mine, but the process should be the same for any machine. You can also use your sewing machine to make a button hole.
Getting set up
First, place put your button presser foot on your sewing machine, it just clicks in like a typical presser foot. Next you need to make sure your feed dogs are down. Your feed dogs are the part of the sewing machine that moved your fabric through the machine. Your sewing machine may be different, but mine lower with a small switch in the back of my machine.
Now place your button under your presser foot. Last, you need to set your sewing machine to zig zag stitch. Line your needle up with your button holes. Go slowly and use your hand wheel first to make sure your needle won’t touch the button, since that can break or bend the needle (or the button)
Once you have the button in the right spot put your needle through the button holes 5-6 times. If you are sewing with a button that has 4 holes, after you do the first set of two, move the button and start sewing in the second two holes and repeat.
Once you have cut the thread, thread it through the button to the bottom and tie your thread in a knot on the under side of your fabric. Sewing on buttons with the machine is more efficient if you are sewing lots of buttons, since the set up can take a while. Once it’s set up, the button attaching process is quick.
