Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________ Period: ______

Directions: Part 1 is the step card. Follow the numbered steps; each step has one action and a picture described in words, so you can work from the sheet alone. Part 2 is the practice record. Part 3 is the cost math. Page 2 is the portfolio card; cut it out, sew your best button on a clean scrap, and thread the scrap through the two slits.

This is a life skill lesson. A button falls off a shirt, a coat, or a pair of work pants, and the whole garment goes in a drawer or in the trash. Four minutes of work saves it. Everybody leaves today able to do this.

Word bank in other languages

Part 1: Step card, sew on a button

Step 1. Find the position.
Line the button up with the buttonhole it has to reach. On a real shirt, the old thread leaves a mark; use that mark. Mark the spot with chalk.
Picture: a shirt front with a buttonhole on one side and a small chalk X on the other side, lined up across from the hole.

Step 2. Knot the thread and come up at the mark.
Bring the needle up from underneath, right at the chalk mark.
Picture: a needle coming up through cloth at a chalk X, with a knot underneath the cloth.

Step 3. Take one small anchor stitch at the mark.
Go down and come back up in almost the same spot. This is the anchor. It stops the knot from popping through on the first pull.
Picture: two tiny stitches on top of each other at the chalk X, before any button is on the cloth.

Step 4. Put the button on the needle.
Slide the needle up through one hole of the button and let the button slide down the thread to the cloth.
Picture: a two-hole button sitting on a needle, sliding down the thread toward the cloth.

Step 5. Lay a toothpick across the top of the button.
Put a toothpick (or a straight pin) on top of the button, between the two holes. You are going to sew over it. This is what makes the shank.
Picture: a button lying flat on cloth with a toothpick resting across its middle, between the holes.

Step 6. Sew through the hole pairs five or six times.
Two-hole button: straight across, the same two holes every time. Four-hole button: two parallel bars, or a cross. Pick one and keep it the same.
Picture: a four-hole button with two straight parallel bars of thread, and beside it a four-hole button with an X of thread across it.

Step 7. Take the toothpick out.
Pull the toothpick out. Lift the button. You should see loose thread underneath it. That gap is the shank.
Picture: a hand pulling a toothpick out from under stitched threads, and the button lifting up off the cloth with slack thread showing below it.

Step 8. Wrap the thread around the shank three or four times.
Bring the needle up between the button and the cloth, then wind the thread around the loose threads under the button, three or four turns, snug.
Picture: a lifted button with thread wound in a tight little column between the button and the cloth.

Step 9. Take the needle to the back and finish off.
Push the needle down through to the back. Make three tiny stitches in one place, then a knot, then trim close with the snips.
Picture: the back of the cloth showing three small stitches on top of each other, with snips cutting the tail short.

Step 10. Test it.
Tug the button firmly. It should not move. Then check: is there slack under it? If it sits flat on the cloth, the buttonhole side will not slide under it and the garment will not close.
Picture: two fingers pulling up on a button that stays put, and a side view showing a small gap between the button and the cloth.

Why does a button need a shank?

Part 2: Practice record

Part 3: The cost math

If every person in this room repaired one shirt instead of replacing it, how much would the room save?

Number of people in the room: ______ times $17.95 = $______________

One sentence: why does anybody throw out a garment over a button?

Page 2: The Portfolio Card

Print this on card stock, about four by six inches, and cut two slits in the middle about two inches apart so a fabric scrap can be threaded through and held flat.

MY BUTTON

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________

Button type: ______ two-hole ______ four-hole

[Two horizontal slits go here, two inches apart. Thread the fabric scrap through so the button faces out.]

The four checks (score yourself)

One sentence: what did this repair save?

Teacher tug test: passed ☐ re-sewn ☐ Teacher initials: ______

This card goes on the sampler card in Lesson 5.11, box 4.