DIY - How To Replace Buttons With Snaps

If you have a special needs child, you may start to think of ways to help make their life a little easier. I noticed he was wearing a pair of red shorts a little more than his other pairs, and, After talking with my son, I realized he liked snaps on his pants instead of buttons. It makes it easier for him to be a little more independent. So I set off to find a tailor so I could get this done professionally.

Well, I thought to myself and realized that would mean I would have to drop off said clothing, pick it up and wait a few days until I could pick them up. I didn’t have that kind of time, so I went on Amazon to find a kit that would install the snaps on clothing. I read review after review and found one that had instructions(most of them do not, which now I see how easy it is, but when you are first learning, you need SOME direction)

I already had a sewing kit handy, so I ordered online, and thanks to amazon prime, it was here the next day. I had seven pairs of shorts to convert. I watched the tutorial the company had on line, put on some music, and went to work.

This is such an easy DIY, and there are more than enough snaps so you can fix any that may break or fix bibs for your kid who likes to play with baby dolls etc. My son doesn’t like the feel of jeans; he likes cotton chino shorts, so the tutorial will show you how to work with that particular fabric.

Here are the tools that I used. You can get the snap toolset here and the sewing kit here. Below are the easy to follow steps.

You need to sew the button slit shut. Make sure to do it on the inside and if you can find thread close to the color of the fabric it will look a little more estheticly pleasing. leave a little opening for the snap to be placed.

make sure to sew on the inside of the pants.

Make sure you match the male side and the female side of the snaps BEFORE you place them. The picture below shows the male side already attached where the button was. The female side will be attached to where the button slit was.

Slide the snap through and place the female or male side (depending on which side of pant you are working on) over top of the spike part of the snap. This snap tool kit also comes with a tool that helps you poke a hole through the fabric and this works well on the button side( the sewing kid I have comes with a thread cutter and this comes in handy when taking the button off)

slide base of the snap into the hole of the button slit that you didn’t sew up.

place the female part of the snap over the base.

for fabric that doesn’t have a opening in it, you can make with with this tool that comes with your snap kit.

Place the snap pliers over both the back and the cover of the snap, make sure that the back snap is all the way in the black circle and not hanging down on any sides.

Press down on the snap pliers all the way. It’s easy if you grasp the back and press down. This will lock the snap in place.

You are all done! The first one took me about 20 min to figure out where I needed to press on the pliers to pout the most pressure to make sure the snaps stayed put. also figuring out where to place the snaps so they are not crooked.

My son loves that he was able to pick the color of the snap as and now his pants are unique and he had a hand in the design. I hope you find this tutorial helpful. If you do please feel free to share.

Disclosure: Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.