quilt938

I've wondered too but I'm just now starting with garment sewing.luckily my aprons haven't needed a button yet! I have no idea where anythign is for mine- I grab the 1/4i nch foot and that's about all I deal with then have to hunt for a wider foot when I need to do applique on my machine

garysgal

I do garment sewing as well. I think most sewers are intimidated by buttonholes and if your machine makes a nice one in a few simple steps, it helps.

crafty pat

I quilt and make clothing. Some machines my friends own do not make pretty buttonholes and when looking for new machines that is very important to us who make clothing. I have the 401A and never liked the buttonholes it made but found a attachment to go with it that makes beautiful ones. My Brother makes nice ones without an attachment. If I was looking to buy a new machine that would be one thing I would look closely at.

ManiacQuilter2

Possible because that is how sewing machines have been sold since first invented. My Bernina did not even have a 1/4" foot when I bought her. I have never used either the zipper foot or the buttonhole attachment since I bought my Bernina in the 90s.

Shelbie

I make buttonholes for many of the bags that I make and have found most of the built in buttonholes on newer machines just won't handle longer or wider settings that many of my bigger or novelty buttons require. If I want a perfect buttonhole nothing beats my ancient old black buttonholer attachment that I use on my vintage Singer 201. It makes the most perfect buttonholes ever! That very same buttonhole attachment also fit on my Janome 6500 (just lower the feed dogs) as it was a low shank machine. It worked so much better than the buttonhole setting and plastic buttonhole foot they provided.

maminstl

Putting buttonholes is often one of the last things you do after slaving over a garment - striking fear into our hearts that we will ruin the entire project. A good buttonhole "system" is invaluable to anyone making clothing.

Bree123

Having come into quilting late in my sewing hobby, I found for garments & home dec, a machine that could sew a good buttonhole could usually do the rest of what I needed well, too. Buttonholes require precise, dense, uniform stitching and only a good machine can do them well. Ironically, my old Singer Genie tends to do a better buttonhole than many of the push-button buttonhole machines that are out now. That said, the convenience of something that sews & cuts your buttonhole with a single touch of a button is pretty awesome when it's done well.

For home dec, I would use large buttonholes for shower curtains, pillows & sometimes even with drapes (tab top drapes). It's a very important & useful feature... except for quilting where we don't really like putting holes in our work.

Chasing Hawk

I sew all sorts of things from quilts to clothes, aprons, back braces, gun belts even slippers.I love all those different feet that come with my machine. Amazingly enough I don't use the walking foot, cause my Bailey is in the other sewing room waiting to quilt something. I use my overcast foot for stitch in the ditch, I use my Monogramming foot to do top stitching on purses, clothes, potholders, mug rugs etc.