Button Hole Size/Shape

Same happens to me with all written documents: letters get more illegible day after day!

afaik button holes have always been determined by button size and shape...1/2 button circumference + 1/8"...now it's possible that button sizes can vary resulting in some buttons being more difficult to fasten than others and likewise some holes may vary due to imperfections in hole construction.....It's an imperfect world...

http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_c/C231/

As far as buttons go, isn't it all about where fashion 'experts' drive the industry ?

In terms of practical solution; Buy whatever shirt/jacket/etc takes your fancy. Find some secondhand garment with suitably matching (colour/shape) buttons that you can manipulate, then find somebody local who would make the required tailoring changes. I don't think the cost of doing so would be horrific, and you would have something that was a tad better because the alteration had made it more enjoyable to wear and to your individual taste. A bit of hunting around would get you the buttons for a dollar or two, and (if lucky) a friendly local might do the work reasonably cheap. {there's a lady in Etherville who will do exactly that for about £5}

Everybody I knew who could sew is dead.

I can still button the tiny buttons on button down collars, but it's not as easy as it once was.

The relationship between button size and buttonhole ...

Buttons and Buttonholes - University of Kentucky

Different Types of Buttonholes: Rounded, Keyhole & More

Square buttons need square buttonholes.

No idea why anybody 'OT'd you ( I'll go negate that in a second). Square buttons make very good sense. The button can pass thru a hole of similar side length, and a twist will keep it in place (bit like cufflinks). Circular buttons are very 'every-day' and harder to grasp for anybody with elder, possibly arthritic, fingers. Square buttons is a very good idea.

Actually, I was joking, but I didn't want to OT myself.

That said, pentagram buttons might be interesting, with straight buttonholes of pit-to-point + 1/8".

Well there ya go, many a true word spoken in jest .

I like duffle-coats, but it brings back nightmare of my mother looping my mittens with elastic thru the sleeves. My therapist tells me it is good to admit this sort of thing in public. Perhaps I should have payed her for last years bills.

Apologies to our OP, but the 'Paddington Bear' is not a bad solution. Toggles style 'buttons' may look a bit Country 'n' Western, but are possibly easier to manipulate ? What might work depends upon the sort of garment in question.

"pit-to-point + 1/8" ? Yes, you clearly have no knowledge of the topic .

Here is practical solution suggested by a college principal in Indian comedy movie "3 Idiots". He does not use buttoned shirts, he uses zipped shirts as it is easy for him and it saves time.