How to sew a buttonhole with a buttonhole foot

Today I’m going to show you how to sew a buttonhole with your sewing machine using a one-step buttonhole foot. Depending on what machine you have, the foot that came with it may look a bit different than mine, but the steps should be the same as long as it’s a one-step buttonhole foot.

Some machines come with a four-step buttonhole foot instead, you can look in your sewing machine manual to determine which type you have. In general, I think if you have a digital machine it comes with a one-step foot and if you have a mechanical machine it comes with a four-step foot. HERE is a great tutorial on sewing a four-step button hole if that’s the kind you have!

Alright, let’s get into it!

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What you need:

• fabric/project you want to sew a buttonhole into
• button that you’ll be using on your project
• sewing machine
• one-step buttonhole foot (comes with your machine)
• machine needle and thread
• fabric chalk or marker
• seam ripper
• sewing pins

Instructions:

First, mark on your fabric where you want your buttonhole. I usually use a little upside-down T shape, with the smaller line marking where I want my buttonhole to start. The length of your line doesn’t matter because your sewing machine will make the buttonhole the right length for you.

Next, grab your buttonhole foot. Use your finger to push on the little tab at the rear of the foot. This will extend the back of the foot.

Now you can place the button you’ll be using in your project into the space at the back of the foot. Like this:

Then squeeze the two tabs together with your fingers. This will tighten down the back of the foot to hold the button securely in place.

Now we can take our foot and our marked fabric over to the sewing machine. First remove whatever foot is on your machine. There’s no need to change the needle, just use whatever is appropriate for your project.

Then snap the buttonhole foot onto your machine with the button towards the back.

Next thread your machine normally and pull the thread through the hole in the foot and towards you.

Then put your fabric under the foot with the top of your “T”  marking towards you. Line up the top of your T in the center of the opening in the buttonhole foot. Lower the buttonhole foot onto the fabric.

Next, pull down the buttonhole lever on the left side of the machine so that it touches the back of the first tab on the buttonhole foot.

Now you can enter the stitch number of the type of buttonhole you want. You can find the stitch numbers for the different types of buttonholes in the manual of your sewing machine. My machine does four types of buttonholes and they’re numbered 15, 16, 17, and 18. Here’s what the four types look like below:

I typed in stitch number 15 for a standard buttonhole:

Now all you need to do is let the machine sew the buttonhole! Double check that your marking is lined up in the very center of the opening in the buttonhole foot. The machine sews front to back, so whatever is in the center of the opening will be the front of your buttonhole. Hold the thread tail in your hand so it doesn’t get caught up as the machine sews and press down the foot pedal. Simply hold down the presser foot until the machine stops sewing.

Now cut your thread tails and your buttonhole is just about done!

To cut open your buttonhole, grab a straight pin and your seam ripper. Place the pin at the end of the buttonhole perpendicular to the buttonhole:

Insert your seam ripper into the other end of the buttonhole and push it through the buttonhole until it hits the pin. The pin will prevent your seam ripper from going through the end of the buttonhole.

Now you’re done! You can trim up the frayed threads inside the buttonhole and apply fray-check if you want. I typically don’t use fray-check unless I’m using a fabric that really tends to fray a lot, but it’s up to you!

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