Sewing Clothing Closures - What's your preference?

Snaps are my favorite because they’re usually the most subtle, and they can be layered under fake closures (mostly buttons) to make it look real while still being very easy to handle. Hook and eye are also often relatively subtle if you’re just using them to close up the back of something.

Zippers are awesome, but only if they’re in scale. Buttons, ties, and lace-up are pretty, but are often difficult to maneuver when they’re to scale (shaky hands here). Velcro is super easy to dress with, but kind of bulky and can throw off the realism.

 

Hooks and eyes (or thread bars) or tiny buttons and thread loops. I like the lack of bulk in both options - and fake buttons can be sewn on if you want the look of a buttoned garment fastened with hooks.

Snaps... I tend ot avoid in a lot of instances due to the extra bulk they create between the layers (not a lot but massive if you look at in doll scale).

Lace up - I'll use in some instances (corsets or whatever) but they're a faff for dressing and undressing a doll.

Velcro... I don't use it much, if I want a concealed opening disguised as a seam, for example, I'll use the super fine stuff, but I dislike hgow it grabs doll hair if given a chance and can mess up wigs.

Ties - I'll happily use them if the garment design warrants it but they aren't a go-to for me.

Zips - I've never been able to set ips in neatly, even in full sized items, so have fourty or more years of avoiding using them under my belt. Also, most of my doll (and full-size) sewing is historical styles, largely from before the invention of the zip so I hae an excuse not to use them.

Teddy

 

Hook and eyes because it's fairly subtle, lace up because you can adjust it do different bodies (up to a point).

 

my favourite are zippers and lace-up! zipper because it makes dressing very easy and is also well-hidden if it's invisible zipper. lace-up because it makes the outfits very versatile for different body types! but it's difficult to find the right size for zippers and lace-up might not be appropriate for more modern outfits. same idea with ties, tend to only work with certain garments.

snaps are great and easy for dressing too but I'd only use it for larger dolls because it adds a disproportionate amount of bulk for smaller dolls, if you don't accomodate for the bulk when preparing fabrics you might end up with clothes that don't fit well for the doll you are tailoring for

buttons - good when dressing!! but I don't have tools to make button holes with haha so no opinions when it comes to sewing

I feel like velcro can get damaged easy especially if you take the clothing on and off often, and as already mentioned above, it loves sticking to wigs

hook and eye are easy to apply but I find them pretty hard to use when actually dressing... maybe I'm just clumsy haha

 

Hooks and eyes as well as snaps are easy to find and install. Doll sized zippers and buttons are a challenge to find, and not everyone is patient enough to make their own buttonholes. I've resorted to doing my own doll buttonholes by hand as my machine struggles to make them at that scale.

 

I voted for snaps because they are fairly easy to put in (if a little tedious) and for larger dolls they work beautifully and don't add that much bulk. I would like to try hook-and-eye systems in the future, though, especially for smaller dolls.

Zippers are great, but so hard to find in the right scale, and also, I've had too many zippers break to fully trust them. Snaps aren't going to stop working all of a sudden.

Buttons are nice, but may not be totally functional at tiny sizes - I might prefer a button with a loop of thread instead of buttons with buttonholes at small sizes (but I have to experiment here).

Velcro gets bulky very fast, even the finest kind, and it can lose its functionality over time.

So I would rank them thus:
Snaps
Hook and Eye
Buttons
Ties
Lace up
Velcro
Zipper

 

I prefer buttons, snaps and zippers. There are a lot more options now, in button sizes and zippers. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be the case for snaps but they are still more durable and easy to sew, compared to Velcro. I am not a fan of the latter because it doesn't age well in general and most that is used in doll clothes is the fuzzy, bulky kind (probably the kind that ages the worse).

I am particular about scale, so I know that it can be a pain in the back finding zippers that look good on smaller sized dolls, but they do exist. They just don't seem to be mass-produced for people outside 1:6 scale action figure makers. They have separating zippers with #1 and #2 teeth and pull -- I own 1:6 scale action figure jackets that have them. I have only found non-separating zippers in those sizes, but at least it's something. Finding them in the right material and color is another ordeal, but at least there are a few more options than say, five years ago? DX

 

Theoretically it’s snaps but I’ve yet to find snaps that are both tiny enough to look good and have enough room for attachments so they won’t get ripped out when opening a garment. Ultra thin Velcro or buttons/ties for now

 

velcro as a personal preference because it's really simple to use and there's no worry about scale as with buttons and zippers.
snaps don't need as much hand dexterity too!

 

Whenever possible I prefer to use whatever the garment would normally use. So, buttons and button holes for shirts and blouses, zippers for hoodies, ties for aprons and so on.
But with that said, I also dislike having to remove doll heads for dressing, so I do often cheat with closures in the back on garments that wouldn't normally have them, such as t-shirts. For those I will typically use either snaps or button and tread loop.
For my tiniest dolls I often use ties in the back at the neck opening for garments that will be worn under something else, since it adds next to no bulk and the ends can be tucked into the back opening, making it invisible when the whole outfit is worn.
I use hook and eye, or hook and thread bar at the back of skirts, sometimes, but rarely for other things.

Over all, I'd say buttons scale down the best out of the options listed. They are sometimes a bit fiddly to close, but they do usually look good both open and closed.
I loathe the look of snaps at the front of button up shirts, they almost always show and makes it impossible to wear the shirt open without looking silly and giving the scale away. They also remind me of toddler clothes, designed to be easy to use even for a small child, so there is something infantile about it and just looks off when worn by a doll representing an adult. Second worst is human sized shirt buttons on an otherwise realisticly styled shirt, they look like clown buttons and likewise betray the scale and just look off.

I never used velcro for BJD clothes. I remeber having a lot of doll clothes with velcro when I was a kid and thay always snaged on things and wore out quickly. Some of my earliest sewing projects were replacing worn out velcro. I have a hard time seeing a situation where that would be the best option for a BJD garment. And as mentioned above, even the thinnest kind add bulk, so if I need something easy to use I would much rather go with tiny snaps.

 

i put velcro because its all i know xD

 

Everything I've gotten with velcro always seems to have it in the wrong spot for it to work right, so if you're making stuff to sell for multiple types of dolls, that's a thought. Hook and eyes work best because they're subtle, and if you need to add another eye to snug something in for a perfect fit, it's easy to do. Snaps over buttons every time though... worst outfit I own, though it looks beautiful, has teeny-tiny fake seed pearls as buttons that fit into a stretchy lace... because the designers were apparently sadists.

 

I'm a snaps person myself, but my second favorite has actually become buttons with thread loops. When I'm sewing on 1/6 scale, which I usually am, the buttons and thread loops offer the least bulk. They are, however, usually visible, so there is that downside. I don't mind it if I use cute buttons or beads, but I also tend to make things fasten in the back.

For more hidden closures, I find snaps to be a perfectly viable option, although I will be getting some plastic 4mm snaps to reduce bulk even further over the 4/0 metal Dritz snaps I can get at the store. Then I can sew on decorative buttons or what have you over the snaps. The idea of doing real buttonholes is nightmarish--I have a few 1/3 outfits that have those, and they are so frustrating.

I like velcro in theory as well, and I do have some extremely thin doll velcro, but I HATE sewing it in! I know that's partially just experience, but ugh. What a pain. It is a great option though for making things more adjustable, but hidden. (Of course thread loops/a hook and eye or bar tack closure works for that too--just add some extra loops/bar/eyes!)

 

I really prefer hooks and eyes than snaps and zippers.

 

I like tiny snaps and clear plastic snaps. Doll scale zippers are great and super easy to install, for me if I'm in a hurry. Making button holes in small scale by machine usually ruins a great project, so I use snaps and sew buttons on top. For really small scale I use beads and tiny thread loops. I guess it totally depends on the project, but I buy snaps by the gross so always have plenty on hand.

 

I've only found one: I made a Renaissance gown for one fo my SD girls that laces up the side-backs of the bodice - btu the neckline is too small to go over her head without an opening to make it larger so I did a back opeining as a fake centre back seam. I backed it with the ultra thin velvro so that the two edges of the opening butt-up agsinst each other (not overlap) when closed, and it looks like a seam rather than an opening... The side back openings are also fake, as a resutl - they don't need to actually open, so I sewed them as seams and then stitched the lacking cords as if they were lacing the edges together, just for show.

Teddy

 

@Teddy Yes, that would probably be one of the few places where it is a good choice.
There are back laced, high neck renaissance gowns that have a hook and tread bar closure on the shoulder to make it possible to get the head through, so that would probably have been my choice if I were to make one for a doll, at least for bigger dolls. But I don't mind taking the time to manage lacing. But I do admit that one of that big charms about renaissance clothing to me is how the different parts and layers goes togheter, so I'm a bit biased. I wouldn't want to loose that.
For things that require fast changes, though, it might have a place. Kind of like teater clothes when changing quickly is more important than the historical aspects.

To those of you who say you don't like doing up buttons and button holes, what is it about it that is the problem? I get that it's a bit more work when sewing since it's not possible to do by machine most of the time, but in the actual putting on an taking off, where lies the frustraton? I make and sell doll clothes at conventions sometimes and the few times I've sold things with functional buttons, if anything people seem to be genuinely happy to see it and it sells quick, so I'm a little bit surprised to read words like "nightmareish" and calling the designer a "sadist". Those are strong words, in the later case directed at an actual individual since a specifig garment was mentioned. You don't call someone a sadist simply for not making the stuff you would rather buy or for making something that takes a few more minutes to put on. So what's going on?
Is it a motor skills problem, an eye sight problem, limited attention span, bad experience to the point of causing lingering trauma with a garment where it was done badly, a powerful dislike for the look, lack of experience? I am genuinely curious now.
It's such a redical opposit to my own experience, but since there seem to be several people feeling very strongly about it, it's clearly a thing.

 

In my case, it was a skin tight dress with seed pearls (nice, round, extremely slippery) that were either 2 or 3mm in diameter, which them had to fit onto a strechy lace as the button holes. Between the tightness of the dress, the slipperiness of the buttons, and the way the lace would snap back if you lost your grip while trying to push the teeny pearls through, and the way the pearls themselves would occasionally slip right back out if you were working on the next one, I really just wanted a freakin' zipper.

Edit: here's a picture:


And mind you, there's more buttons under the tail. I will admit it looks nice when on the doll, but I don't ever want to take it off and put it back on!

 

I don’t *hate* buttons but at doll scale they can simply be too small to open or close easily without some kind of tool to grab the button. I also tend to keep my nails short which makes it harder to hook onto small things like that.

 

I have a friend who finds it purely a dexterity issue (with some other fastenings as well but definitely buttons and buttonholes/button-loops). They simply frustrate. I love them myself but have seen others struggle with button closures that I find perfectly straight- forward to deal with.

Teddy

 

I also simply find them frustrating from a dexterity standpoint, especially on smaller clothes with appropriately-scaled buttons. At 1/6 scale, functioning buttons are cute but brutal to do/undo, and I always worry about popping one off while I'm wrestling a tiny button through a tiny buttonhole.

 

So far I've come across snaps, velcro, zippers, and hook-and-eye closures, but no buttons. I've also come across ties and lace-up closures, but I feel like those are a sort of different category than the others? They all have their ups and downs but I prefer snaps and hook-and-eye the most so far. I like how secure snaps are compared to hooks, but I prefer how hooks are less prone to being ripped out accidentally, so they're pretty even for me. Zippers are nice for things like the backs of dresses, nice and secure + no gaps, but they don't work so well with thinner things imo due to fabric warp (?).

I hate velcro with a passion though. If I knew a piece of doll clothing used velcro at all it would put me off from buying it. It just has too many downsides to me; it loses its grip over time, gets caught on stray strings, wig hair, clothing fibers, and attracts dust/lint, and the closures never really look right to me.

I'm curious how well true buttons (with either thread loops or actual buttonholes) would work in doll scale. I feel like it would be hard to apply but could be nice for ease of wear. Not sure about bulk, and it's definitely hard to find doll scale buttons. Seems like opinion on them here is kind of split both ways?

As for ties and lace-ups, they look nice, but they're kind of a hassle to do up if you're changing the clothes often. I've only really seen ties in the form of dress waist-ties, and lace-ups for corsets, so far, so they seem a bit limited in use too. I don't think I'd use lace-up myself when sewing simply because I don't have the equipment or knowledge to add eyelets for it.

 

I'd be hesitant to try it as superglue isn't flexible, where fabric is. So, it would be more likely to create a rigid spot in the fabric under the snap, and perhaps rip the fabric instead of flexing each time the snap is fastened or unfastened. Then, instead of just resewing the snap when it comes loose, there's a hole in the fabric to deal with as well...? Just speculating here.

Teddy

 

I wonder if some form of improvised button hook like the ones used on victorian buttoned boots may solve the problem of getting tiny buttons or beads through the button holes.

 

I've used actual button hooks on some things (doll sized and full sized) the problem is getting hooks small enough for the doll stuff. Crochet hooks are often too chuunky to fit through the buttonhole or loop alongside the button itself. I have some very fine old ones that do work.

Teddy

 

Sounds like it's worth a try.

Teddy

 

Well, I don't know what they meant, of course, but in my case, I do have the necessary fine motor skills, but I think it takes some experience to make the buttonholes the right size for tiny buttons and you cannot go by the rule all the time. I have tons of doll clothes where the buttons just slip out of the holes all the time because the fabric is extremely soft/stretchy, and others where I can hardly get the buttons through the holes because, for instance, the fabric is too stiff or the holes are just too small. This creates frustration to the point where I won't use the garment anymore/ would have to improve the closures myself.

 

I have a personal rule about minimizing the amount of specialized tools I need to deal with any removable thing (doll related or not, I originally made this rule about furniture and hardware) as there’s always the risk I will lose or break the tool and then be left with a stuck cabinet door or a broken toilet or a doll that needs to be cut out of an expensive, labor intensive outfit.

 

That would hardly be necessary.

You could simply leave the doll in it until a replacement hook could be obtained.

Even if that were not an option, you'd merely need to snip the threads holding the buttons (which could be easily replaced with application of needle and thread) leaving the outfit no worse for the experience.

Teddy

 

Thinking along the idea of a hook rug tool a machine knitting needle or one of the tools used on a knitting machine is the same thing but much finer. I have a knitting machine and I think I have a few spare needles knocking about. Teddy I am in the UK as well if you PM me I'll see if I can find one to let you have to see if it works on your pesky doll dress.

 

Thanks for the generous offer @Valentia but I don't really have trouble with buttons myself - I was just relating how others do. It's probably best to save them for people who have provblems with tiny buttons, rather than sending one to me just to try out.

Teddy

 

For anyone who has trouble buttoning or unbuttoning tiny doll clothes with working tiny buttonholes, people in the 1:6 action figure hobby use hobby tweezers. I only own one single 1:6 shirt with functional buttonholes and left it on one of my custom 1:6 action figures for years, because I loathe the thought of removing it, button by button. I still don't own a set of hobby tweezers myself, because I don't have issues with most of my 1:6 action figures clothes, nor shoes with real laces (the ones already on there), but I have issues with other stuff, so I probably should get some of those soon. I have tried regular human-meant brow tweezers, and those work semi-decently -- I need thinner, longer ones for buttons though, which I probably will need in the future (I'm planning on making my own button-down dress shirt, for my mature Myou tiny, some day! I suck at sewing, so it's still just lurking in the back of my mind for now). Hope that helps someone. (:

 

I should get a pair of hobby tweezers... My spouse has some for their Gunpla stuff, but they don't like me to take them because I'm prone to misplacing things. All the angled tweezers I have are too short for the work of buttons, but that's a great idea. I still don't relish the thought of using them much, though. A button and a thread loop is plenty fiddly enough for me, haha.

It's interesting to me to see how low velcro ranks, though! I do like the super thin kind I got that's made for doll clothes, but my sewing machine hates stitching through it (especially the "male"/hook side that's stiffer). Any tips there would be appreciated... I probably just need to use a heavier needle, but the idea of changing needles for a single line of stitching is also just annoying enough to put me off. (I get mine, in case anyone needs a source, from iSewForDoll.com.)

 

I like velcro all right. reminds me of playing barbie... though it can be a pain to sew, especially when it comes to very thin strip. I don't have a technique, just prayers to whatever spirit inhabits my sewing machine to be kind to me this time

on the whole, I prefer snaps because I don't have to rely on my machine for those, so I feel more in control.

But let's be real, for a good 50% of the clothes I've made, the closure is a round headed pin, "just until I get around to putting on a real closure"

 

I have a fair chunk like that, and the problem is, once they get into circulation as clothes the dolls are wearing, they never get trsnsfgerred back into the "works-in-progress" stuff to wait for their fastenings, much as I intend to do it every time I change them out of one of them.

Teddy

 

I've missed this thread before, hope it's not too late to state some preferences.
#1: Buttons! I sew by hand a lot, so it's not a problem to make buttonholes, though I mostly use thread loops. I buy small buttons at handmade and doll fairs and events and by now have a collection sufficient for most new projects. I'd been working with YoSD format till this year and only recently moved to some MSD projects, and at this scale buttons seem to work best. Though I now have the opposite problem to most people: buttons bought for 1/6 projects are too small for some of the MSD clothes, so I need to buy some slightly larger ones. Anyway, for visible closures (including on the back, but not covered by fabric) buttons are my go-to option. For small fiddly closures I sometimes use a large blunt sewing/carpet needle to help my fingers. For really teeny-tiny closures that I used to make for an off-topic 10 cm doll, I sometimes used elastic thread for the thread loops.
#2: Ties - good option for asian style outfits, as well as western aprons, historical shirts, etc. I usually use either silk ribbons (2-4 mm wide, intended for ribbon embroidery) or braid 3-6 sewing threads into a cord.
Lace-ups - take a lot of time and effort, but sometimes necessary for realism or close/adjustable fit. As for ties, I use silk ribbons or braided thread for lacing.
Snaps - for invisible closures. I don't like how much bulk even the smallest ones add.
Velcro - I have a couple doll-scale thin strips, but I don't think I've actually used them in any clothes. Not my thing.
Zippers - don't use them, and don't like how most doll clothes with zippers look, they are handy, but it's too easy to get the scale wrong.
Hook and eye - haven't used them before, they seem too large for 1/6 scale, but may work for MSD.

A pin in place of closure is always an option Though in my case it usually means that something went wrong with the design and I need to figure out how to actually make a closure there.

Has anyone used magnets? I have some tiny round magnets but haven't come up with a good way to use them yet.