Buttonhole size for cufflinks?

[DrLang]

I feel silly making a new thread for just this one question, but I have given up trying to find the answer elsewhere. Is there a standard buttonhole opening size for cufflinks?

I'm working on a shirt with double cuffs for the first time and this is just one detail that I can not find anything on. This will be my first shirt that takes cufflinks, so I don't have one to use as an example and I don't even have cufflinks yet to make a guess and make some samples to try. I plan to use silk knots and vintage double sided cufflinks if that makes any difference at all.

[Gerry]

It should just be the same size as your other buttonholes. Some make them slightly larger though: 3/4 inch (that's the full width, the opening will be slightly narrower). Best to use that measurement if your main buttons (and therefore buttonholes) are on the smaller side.

[Gerry]

PS Stephen Lachter mentioned in one of Kirby Allison's videos that he positions the buttonholes slightly forwards of centre-cuff, in order to better show the cufflink.

[DrLang]

It should just be the same size as your other buttonholes. Some make them slightly larger though: 3/4 inch (that's the full width, the opening will be slightly narrower). Best to use that measurement if your main buttons (and therefore buttonholes) are on the smaller side.

Thanks. This was kind of what I assumed. But when I did the math, it didn't seem to work for silk knots. My button holes are usually about 9/16" for an 18L button. That would be just shy of a 3/8" wide silk knot. And I thought double sided cufflinks were usually larger. But AGAIN, I don't have a single set in my possession yet, so what the hell do I know???

[Gerry]

Thanks. This was kind of what I assumed. But when I did the math, it didn't seem to work for silk knots. My button holes are usually about 9/16" for an 18L button. That would be just shy of a 3/8" wide silk knot. And I thought double sided cufflinks were usually larger. But AGAIN, I don't have a single set in my possession yet, so what the hell do I know???

9/16ths is closer to 5/8ths, not 3/8ths so I'm assuming that's a typo. A size 18L button is about 7/16ths IIR. Your opening will be slightly wider than that. 

On cheaper shirts - especially the type that have buttons and also the option for cufflinks - then all buttonholes are generally kept the same. It's for ease of manufacture. With classier dress shirts, the cuffs' buttonholes tend to be larger, typically 3/4 in. This example from my collection of vintage shirts (I buy them for research/cloning):



That black, plastic stud isn't a cufflink. This is a NOS shirt from the early/mid 60s and they put studs in to keep the cuffs neat for packaging. For comparison, this is one of the buttonholes (9/16ths width) for the centre placket of the same shirt:



There's only 3/16ths in it, so I wouldn't worry too much; unless you're making the shirt for someone else and they have limpet mines for cufflinks (in which case, err on the side of caution and go larger).

[peterle]

Here are some of my vintage cufflinks, maybe it helps you to decide.
Most of them are really links, the buttons are connected with a link. You poke the link through and reinstall the botton.
Other have a chain and slender bar on one end to poke through.
Some have a slender bar to flip after installing.
The silk knots and the plain silver buttons are to be poked through the button holes. The silver ones are flat and 1,5cm cm in diameter and the silken knots are 1 cm but round. So both will need a buttonhole of 1,7cm in length.



Keep in mind, these are vintage Eurpoean cufflinks. Probably contemporary American ones are bigger.Texan of course the biggest.

[DrLang]

Keep in mind, these are vintage Eurpoean cufflinks. Probably contemporary American ones are bigger.Texan of course the biggest.

Hahahaha, yeah the Texan look is definitely not for me.

Thank you. The silk knots probably make a good baseline for size for me. The vintage style cufflinks I have been looking at seem to go up to around 15 mm at most. A 17 mm hole should be able to accommodate that.

[Schneiderfrei]

I made my latest cuff-link holes 15 mm. That's big enough for my bulk purchase "Silk" knots or the standard fold back cuff-links.

[Gerry]

Most cufflinks push through standard holes quite easily and are designed that way. I used to have a very large, hexagonal pair, but they had a narrow, straight bar that swivelled 90 degrees once pushed though, which locked them in place (see the last pair in peterle's photo).

You shouldn't need to overthink this. 

[Hendrick]

Here are some of my vintage cufflinks, maybe it helps you to decide.
Most of them are really links, the buttons are connected with a link. You poke the link through and reinstall the botton.
Other have a chain and slender bar on one end to poke through.
Some have a slender bar to flip after installing.
The silk knots and the plain silver buttons are to be poked through the button holes. The silver ones are flat and 1,5cm cm in diameter and the silken knots are 1 cm but round. So both will need a buttonhole of 1,7cm in length.



Keep in mind, these are vintage Eurpoean cufflinks. Probably contemporary American ones are bigger.Texan of course the biggest.

Yeah! Turquoise or rhinestone baby...

Cheers, Hendrick

[Greger]

Figure an 1/8 inch larger than the fastern.

[Dunc]

Kinda depends on the cufflinks... Most (particularly those with T-bars, which are the most common) will easily go through a regular buttonhole, but some double-sided ones won't.

I general opt for 20mm - most of my links could easily go through less, but I do have one pair that are a bit chunky, and I don't like to have to think about which links fit which shirt. Also if they're a bit snug it can be fiddly to get them in with your non-dominant hand, even if you could do it easily with both hands. Again, not an issue for T-bar links, but can be for some others. And you don't want to lock yourself out of being able to buy different links in future because you made the buttonholes too small!