The idea behind reinforcing a button band is to keep the buttons from pulling the stitches of your sweater out of place or causing the band itself it to sag. It’s not always necessary. In fact, often it’s not necessary at all, especially if the buttons you are using are small and light. That being said, I always reinforce my button bands for a couple reasons:
If I’m investing the time and energy necessary to knit a cardigan I’m not going to be happy if something goes awry with my button band. I’d rather spend an extra couple minutes to head off any problems at the outset before they have a chance to ruin my day.
Usually if I’m knitting a cardigan it’s for one of my sons. Neither of them is particularly gentle with his clothing so anything to make it sturdier is a good thing.
There are several ways to reinforce buttons on a knit cardigan. One way is to place a second button on the wrong side behind the main button and then sew the two buttons on together so that the thread isn’t actually anchored to any stitches.
You can also do this with a small piece of ribbon, felt, or other type of fabric that isn’t going to fray. Place it on the wrong side behind the button and then sew the button on. The thread will then pull on the fabric instead of an individual stich on your button band.
My preferred method is to use a whip stitch to sew a length of grosgrain ribbon to the wrong side of my button band on the side where the buttons will go and then sew the buttons on. This way the tension is distributed across the whole of the band and isn’t concentrated on and single stitch. This not only keeps the buttons from pulling but it also looks nice if you happen to catch a glimpse of the inside of the button band while the sweater is being worn. You can even play with the color and design of the grosgrain to add a nice pop of contrast.
This is exactly what I did when knitting Beckett Ridge and Troublemaker. I didn’t have any ribbon at hand when I was finishing the Beckett Ridge sample (pictured above) so I used a strip of double fold bias tape with the center fold flattened out and the edges folded under. It was a bit of an experiment and thus far has held up as well as the button bands I’ve done with grosgrain ribbon.
The end result is a nice flat and stable button band.
