Sewing buttons on a quilt
 

Hi! I'm new to the Quilting Board - and "sew" glad I found it!

I just finished a quilt to be given to my mom as a gift and want to sew some buttons on it. I'm trying to decide if I should machine sew them on or hand sew them? I guess I'm hung up on if I machine sew them, then I'll see the threads on the back (does it really matter?). If I hand sew them, what is the best way to do this so you won't see the threads (needle size, length, etc).

Thanks!

Well, if you're going to sew them on by hand you could hide the thread knots the same way you do when you are hand quilting. Make a small knot and put the needle into the top fabric about an inch away from where you want the button to be. Bring the thread out at the spot where you'll put the button and pull the knot into the fabric.... it's kinda scary the first time you do it but if your knot isn't big it will pop inside the quilt pretty easily. Then, you'll want to sew in the button. When you're ready to finish, make a small knot again, close to the stopping point on the thread. Put the needle in at the button and glide your needle about an inch away and pop it back out.

There will be others giving you ideas of how to do this as well, I'm sure. There are tons of ways to get things done.

And, WELCOME from Michigan. Hope you enjoy your stay here. We all love newbys..... and pictures. We LOVE pictures.

Oh, I forgot to mention..... use a thin needle. I use betweens, size 9 or 10. And, I'd use regular sewing thread.

Good luck.... be sure to snap a pic to show all of us.

I always sew buttons on as the last thing. I would had stitch them with a heaver thread such as quilting or carpet thread. Bury the thread end into the quilt batting.

I considered doing that on a quilt I made recently but haven't done it yet. I liked the method explained on this blog
http://mrsmoen.blogspot.com/2014/01/...-on-quilt.html

Welcome from the Capital of Louisiana, Baton Rouge...

Why not just sew the buttons on before you sandwich the quilt top and quilt around them when you get to that point? Unless you plan to have the buttons as a dense embellishment, it should be fairly easy to quilt around them.

This is how I do it!!

Welcome to the board, from the Gulf!!

I have learned so much by coming to this board. Enjoy