Non-Automatic Buttonhole Foot Tutorial

It really is not supposed to be complicated to use a buttonhole foot.  Most of the sewing machines nowadays come with an automatic buttonhole foot (like the one shown on the left--this came with my old sewing machine).  But since I got my sewing machine 2nd handed, I was left without any accessories besides the standard foot.  When I looked online, I was unable to find a buttonhole foot for my machine.  However, there was a set of sewing feet on sale that included a buttonhole foot (of course, the picture on eBay was too small to show what each foot looked like.)  It was after opening the package, I realized that the buttonhole foot in the set is not automatic--it does not have the button guide plate nor the bracket on the side.  How do I use this foot? I searched online with no avail.  Nope, I am obviously the only one who does not have an automatic buttonhole foot.  *sigh*.  If you are a proud owner of a non-automatic buttonhole sewing foot, please let me know!!

I rested the case for more than a year and I dared not sew anything that required a buttonhole...until today.  I spent the Thanksgiving week reorganizing my sewing room and just so happened to have both buttonhole feet side by side.  It was then that I had a chance to compare the 2. All I needed was to determine the buttonhole size and push the buttonhole lever at appropriate time.

 I selected the buttonhole stitch on the machine and pull down the lever and attached the sewing foot.

Typically, buttonholes are sewn from the front of the presser foot to the back, starting with the tag bar.  **Double check with your owner's manual for the exact steps of your buttonhole stitching.

 So I set the movable attachment to where I wanted the buttonhole to start its bar tag.  There is a red indicator on the foot (right next to where the foot is attached to the machine) that can line up with the ruler-like markings on the left.  The red indicator marks the needle position.  Once the the presser foot was lowered, the movable attachment was locked in place.  Press the foot control and the machine will start step #1 and #2. 

After the bar tag and the left bar of the buttonhole were sewn, and the movable attachment would not go back any further, it was time to push the lever back to let the machine know to go to step #3 (move the needle back to the front tag bar).

 When the red indicator lines up with the marking where the beginning needle position was (front tag bar), I pushed the lever so the machine would sew the right bar. (step #4)

After the right bar of the buttonhole was sewn, and the movable attachment would not go back any further, it was time to push the lever back to let the machine know to go to step #5 (sew the back tag bar).

And there's my buttonhole with the not-so-automatic buttonhole foot!  Woohoo!!

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Binder Foot

Sewing narrow binding has been a pain. If one stitch does not catch the binding, I have to rip out the entire stitching and redo the whole thing again.
Then, there was the alien-looking 1/4" binder foot.  All bindings came to beautiful finishes.  So glad to have this in my tool box.

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New Foot--Overcast Foot

Two weeks before Christmas, my son, Z, asked what gift I’d like to get.  I told him, “Just get me something I could use for my sewing.”  And he got me this Overcast Presser Foot.  I do not have a serger, a side cutter attachment or even a blanket stitch setting on my machine. With the built in guide on the overcast foot, the zigzag st. are now so precisely wrapping the edge of the fabric.  Brilliant!  Thanks, son.  I love this Christmas gift.

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Teflon Foot Alternative

 Vinyl, oilcloth, and synthetic leather.  Enough said?

I’ve tried to sew vinyl SLOWLY and pull the material to match sides using my all purpose foot.  What a disaster!  The fabrics shifted so badly that they ended up with “extras” hanging from the side of the stitches…  Since those materials do not “heal” like most fabrics (once you rip out the stitches, you’d see holes that would not disappear), I could not even use my seam ripper and sew again.  The best thing I could do was to trim off the “excess” vinyl and live with the slanted stitches.

I was told that Teflon presser foot was the ONLY answer.  Even my husband said, “Well, it's Teflon. There's no substitute for the same kind of sticking prevention.  Just buy a Teflon foot.  Wait, how much is it going to cost me?” 

Well, I'd beg to differ.

Layering a piece of stabilizer on top of vinyl worked for me.  Still pricey?  Try a piece of tissue paper instead.  They both prevent the material from sticking to the presser foot.

Another trick I've learned  is taping masking tape to the bottom of the all purpose foot.  Same principle as using the stabilizer/tissue paper.

It does not have to be neat, just needs to cover the foot.  Make sure to cut opening for the needle!  You sure don't want to have a gummy needle from sewing through the tape.

I will use these inexpensive methods until I feel compelled enough to get the Teflon foot some day.  Who knows, my husband might be right this time.

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Do You Know Your Feet?

Most of these presser feet came with my sewing machine.  I’d say that I stay with the all purpose foot for comfort, and with the zipper foot and buttonhole feet when I must.  But I hardly felt necessary to use the others until I realized what they could do.

Narrow Hemmer Foo

Buttonhole Foot

I've written about the Narrow Hemmer foot and the Buttonhole foot in my July Aha.  So I won't bore you with these same two feet.  

Blind hem presser foot does wonders--neat, close to the edge stitches.  Life before blind hem foot was having my fabric fed right into the needle plate whenever I attempted to sew close to the edge.  Ok, let's not go back there...

Got a quilting foot for I just could not see where I was stitching when I appliqued.  This presser foot has "an open toe", allowing you to guide your stitches.  The problem was that the presser foot shank screw did not fit my machine.  I needed to improvise.  So I used an unbended paper clip instead.  What can I say, it did the job.

The 1/4" quilting foot aka piecing foot is great for sewing 1/4" or 1/8" seams.  The presser foot has 3 red markings at the needle, 1/8" and 1/4", making your sewing precise when you have a rectangular-4-side job.

Here's a link from Viking that has great illustrations of how a piecing foot works: 

http://www.husqvarnaviking.com/us/Clear14piecingfoot.pdf

I am not a quilter, but I could imagine how quilters could not live without this baby.

Check out the Binder foot post here! 


The Overcast foot post here! 


And the Teflon Foot Alternative post here! 

Here's a link that has video demonstrations of how different feet work:

http://www.sewingmachine-sales.co.uk/sewing_machine_info/video/36/bias-binder.html

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July Aha!

Aha #1:  Me and my Narrow Hemmer Foot

I love words such as "clearance", "sale" and "free".  So when I learned that my sewing machine comes with additional sewing feet, I was convinced that I got a great bargain.  However, some of those free feet are tricky because I DID NOT KNOW HOW TO USE THEM!  The most challenging presser foot trophy goes to my narrow hemmer foot.

Great looking foot, isn't it?

Common sense told me that anything problem could be solved if I just read!  So I read the 2 pages of "How To Use Narrow Hammer Foot" again and again.  Tested on my poor scrap so many times that the top edge unraveled.  Still, could not feed the fabric into the curled part of the presser foot far enough to make a stitch.  As I struggled, I would look at my user's manual and go "Are you sure about this?"  (Arrrrrrr!)


I even found a tutorial online for Mastering the Narrow Hemmer here:
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3947/mastering-the-narrow-hemmer-part-two
Tried and failed...

Then, I thought to myself, "Self, why don't we start stitching 2-3" down instead of  feeding that tiny corner into the curl part?"  So I put the presser foot 2" down from the top of the fabric and tried to feed the fabric into the curl part from there.  Sure enough, Aha!  It worked!  The fabric was catching.  When I started stitching, I saw this beautiful narrow hem forming.  No sweat.  I am dreaming of all the possibilities of using this presser foot right now.  And the best part is now there's no more fear. 

Aha #2: Buttonhole  Foot setting on the bag

The buttonhole foot is an odd ball.  It does not fit into my small box for the presser feet family.  I left it in the original plastic zipper bag and got my "aha".

I wrote a short summary of how to use this presser foot (and the page number of the user's manual for detail reading, just in case) on the bag.  Later, I added the setting adjustment, too.  I do not sew buttonholes that frequently, but whenever I do now, it's a breeze. 

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