OT Button holes

[Micky]

OT? How come on a lot of men's shuirts, the button holes are oriented vertically except for the bottom one, which is horizontal?

[T]

Try asking these guys:

[Mark Lloyd]

I looked at all my shirts, and found NO horizontal button holes except on the collar (not bottom).

[philo]

ditto

[Cindy Hamilton]

It's easier to do it that way in the machine that makes them.

Cindy Hamilton

[Thomas]

'Good' shirts have the horizontal hole.

[Trumpster]

I have no idea. My Cutter & Bucks do but the Van Heusens and L L Beans don't.

[hubops]

In most shirts, there is more likely to be horizontal stress/pulling than vertical stress/pulling. Buttons are more likely to stay in the buttonhole if the direction of the stress is in the same direction of the stress (button pulls to end of buttonhole) than if it is perpendicular (button pulls out of buttonhole). So horizontal button holes are actually more functional than vertical.

However, vertical button holes look better in general. Especially so if the button is being pulled to the end of the buttonhole.

So convention has been to use vertical button holes except where the button hole is likely to be out of sight. This is typically the bottom most button hole (tucked into your pants) and sometimes the topmost button hole also (under your tie, or unbuttoned)

[Muggles]

One reason for the bottom button hole to be horizontal is when shirts are tucked in, the bottom button won't come open from the tension and the shirt is less likely to ride up.

[Muggles]

Another reason for vertical button holes is the designed width of the faced material section down the front of the shirt, and the button size choice. Vertical button holes may just be practical.

[Wade Garrett]

That, and the tension of the fabric from a big gut ;-)

[philo]

Guess I need to invest in better t-shirts

[Jack Meoff]

Micky wrote in news: [e-mail]:

The only horrozontal hole I've ever seen was owned by an oriental lady I once dated.

[Micky]

You've lost me. It's easier to do the vertically, horizontally, or to change for the last one?

[Micky]

Well you sound convincing, so I'll accept what you say.

My best guess was so that when buttoning the shirt, I'd know when I was done without having to look.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Sewing machines make button holes parallel to the direction the fabric travels. You can put the top of a shirt in the machine, move it a couple inches for every buttonhole, and when you reach the bottom you're done. If you want the last button hole perpendicular, you can turn the shirt for that one.

Cindy Hamilton

[Muggles]

haha! We aren't supposed to notice that!

[Tekkie?]

Because you stretched the shit out of the material?

[Mark Lloyd]

That reminds me of the 'good' scissors my mother had when I was growing up, where 'good' means you can't use them.

[Mark Lloyd]

I never button those. I really don't like the feeling of being strangled.