How to sew a hidden buttonhole?
Research on shirts.
If you want to hide the buttons on a shirt, the best way is to sew a hidden buttonhole. It's as simple as a little folding and precision.
Here is what you need to do to sew a hidden buttonhole.
Fix your pattern
First of all, add the correct seam allowances to your shirt pattern. I have made a little drawing to show you.
⚠️ Note here that men's and women's shirts do not close on the same side.
For men, the buttonhole is on the left 👈, while for women it is on the right 👉. I must admit that I haven't found a mnemonic yet... But maybe writing it here will help me remember!
Let's make a woman's shirt here.
Add the amount of fabric you will have to fold.
On the right hand side, add 3 times 3 cm or 3 times the desired width of your buttonhole. Then add 1cm of seam allowance.
On the left hand side, add 2 times 3 cm or 2 times the width of your buttonhole. Do not add a seam allowance afterwards.
Folding and ironing
The technique lies in the folding and ironing .
Right hand side.
Fold and iron on the centre front line inwards.
Fold outwards leaving 3cm
Then fold inwards again, folding in 1cm under all layers.
As follows:
Sew the hem as follow:
Turn your piece to the front and pin it. Then stitch the hem, turn it and iron it so it looks nice. You can use a pin to push the corner to the right position.
Don’t stitch the full hem right away. First, follow the next steps.
Next steps :
Sew the buttonholes.
Make a holding stitch between the layers so that the buttonhole does not open. ⚠️This holding stitch isn’t going through all the layers. Take all the layers, except the outside one.
Attach the buttonhole, making sure to catch all the layers.
The difficulty here is to catch all the layers properly. If you don’t trust yourself yet, you can pin it down or pre-stitch it by hand.
Don’t worry, once you get use to sewing, it will be easier!
Left hand side.
For the left hand side, fold twice the width of your buttonhole inwards (3cm here).
Hem the bottom before stitching the button placket. Place your buttons last.
The technique in step-by-step photos
To conclude
Have you ever sewn a hidden buttonhole? Tell me in the comments if you know this technique or if you have another way of doing it! I'm curious to know. And if you have any techniques you want to know step by step, tell me too!