Skip to main content

Singer 201-2: Buttonholer attachment

Button holes can be done by hand.  But... you might make the button hole too small or too big, and there's probably lots of them to do!  If only there was a quick way to do button holes on a straight-stitch only machine...

Well, there actually is!

You'll need a very specific attachment though.  (How I got mine).


The buttonholer is a marvelous thing.  It's very loud (clack-clack-clack) but produces amazingly consistent button holes.  And it manages to do it on a straight-stitch only machine!



Here's the underside of the buttonholer, with the bottom popped off.  This is how you swap out cams.


Here's how the buttonholer is attached to the machine.  There's a lever arm that rests on the needle bar, plus it's screwed in the same way as any other foot would be.

Crucially, you'll also need a feed dogs cover plate screwed on, with the needle hole still open.  If you don't have one, the fabric/threads will catch and pull things out of shape.  If you cover the needle hole, well, you'll have a very broken needle and messed up machine timing! 

I think dropping your feed dogs is sufficient as well, but you don't need to do both! 


In action!  


I've found that two to three layers of stitching make a good, solid button hole.

After the button hole is made, you remove the fabric from the machine, snip the threads, and use a seam ripper or scissors to very carefully clip the button hole open.

Some slow-motion so you can see the zig-zagging:


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I bought a Silver Reed SK10 and SR10 knitting machine!

I've been considering a CSM (circular sock machine) for a while, but my budget has kept me from buying one.  I really want the ability to crank out sock snakes and hand-finish the heels and toes.  I discounted flat-bed machines because how would you knit in the round on a flat-bed machine?   And then I stumbled on a post that said you can in fact knit in the round, or, knit tubular as machine knitters are more likely to say, on a flat-bed machine.  The secret?  A ribbing attachment!  (Or a double bed machine, but those are fairly rare).  So I started the hunt for a knitting machine and ribbing attachment.  I found the perfect machine for me a few weeks ago.  Here it is knitting a ribbed cowl :

Renulek's Rose #3

 Finished product first, of course.      

Learning to tat! With yarn, not ink

  Tatting is a surprisingly ambiguous word.  Yarn or ink?  Both can involve needles, technically!  I enjoy picking up new yarn hobbies, and I've only ever heard of tatting -- never seen examples of it, or met anyone else who tats, or even knows what tatting is ("like tattoos?"). Tatting is a pretty old fibercraft, and is much less efficient at creating fabric than knitting or crochet or weaving.  I think it's primarily a decorative craft, as tatted fabric is fairly open and lacey, and would not drape well.   In any case, I finally purchased some tatting shuttles and needles and embarked on a short YouTube tutorial journey.