The Buttoned Shoulder: Functional or Decorative?
pattern: 6x2 Pullover
yarn: Höner och Eir Nutiden
Q: I love button shoulder sweaters and own several… But I never actually use the buttons! I am starting to wonder, what exactly is the purpose of this design feature? Is it supposed to provide ventilation? Look sexy? Or am I overthinking, and it’s just a decorative element?
Funny, I could have written this myself a few years ago.
For I too went through a period of being infatuated with shoulder fastenings, and wanting to ‘understand’ them. But understand them I did not!
When unbuttoned, the shoulder fabric opens in a way that either shows too much, slips down, or flaps awkwardly. So it seems to be a decorative element. But if so, then why bother going through the trouble of making buttonholes, when the buttons can just be fixed in place?
Ah the mysteries of design. And when online research did not help me unravel them, I consulted a historian friend who has some academic interest in Victorian and Edwardian dress. Because I had a feeling the answers stemmed from there. I was not wrong!
It would seem that the original purpose of the button shoulder was to facilitate fit on garments with small neck openings. As necklines were often quite high and tight in Victorian and Edwardian fashion, and were made out of woven fabrics with no stretch, some sort of button-up feature was necessary, for them to fit over the head. The button shoulder was one such stylistic option, the others being having the buttons on the front, or on the back.
As knitwear became more prevalent through the first half of the 20th century, the button shoulder remained widely used for this purpose - but increasingly for children’s garments. Although you can see some knitting patterns from as late as the 1950s, showing ladies pullovers with tight round necklines and a shoulder fastening, this style went out of fashion in later decades.
Since then, the shoulder detail has been used mostly as a decorative element. Even for children’s sweaters, the present-day convention for knitting at a loose gauge precludes the need for fastenings to accommodate a child’s head fitting through the neck opening; most knitters’ neckbands are loose and stretchy enough without this feature.
The button shoulder, however, continues to be a popular design element evoking nostalgic, romantic, or nautical associations.
So, to summarise the historically-functional aspect of the button shoulder:
Technically, it is meant to assist you with donning the garment. You are meant to unbutton it in order to fit the sweater over your head, then button it up again. You are not meant to walk around with the shoulder hanging open, looking all sexy and sloppy.
But in a contemporary context, I think it is fair to say anything goes. In the 6x2 Pullover specifically, I do use it for ventilation more than anything. Since I typically wear these garments over a base layer, showing too much skin is not a concern. And yes, the fabric does flop over - but I find the look interesting, adding an ‘undone’ element and some lightness to a design that can look conservative and severe due to the ribbed fabric and boxy fit.
And of course, if you never plan to unbutton the shoulder, you can absolutely forgo the faff of making button holes, and just sew the placket down in the process of sewing the buttons.
Or? Not do the button shoulder at all if it’s not your thing, since this feature is optional.
