Help with button hole attachment please!!
 

I'm using my avatar. It came with a Greist button hole attachment. I've used it before but I use it so infrequently that I always forget how to use it.

Today I'm getting nowhere. I've tried 2 different types of fabrics. I'm trying to put bottonholes in a synthetic but I also tried a cotton as a test and got nowheere.

It seems to me I need to do something with the settings on my machine. I thought I wrote all this down but I guess not. I've dropped the feed dogs in lieu of using the cover plate. I have straight stitch selected. Am I supposed to change my machine stitch length or width? Is this the attachment that I set the length to "0"? I keep trying different combos but just getting frustrated. The manual does not say anything about the machine settings, but I swear they have to be changed.

On my last try, the fabric wasn't moving, I was just sewing the same spot over and over. On my previous try, the fabric moved too much and I even broke a needle.

Thanks!!

I've never heard of dropping feed dogs for a button hole, how is the fabric to advance without them advancing it? That's why it is just staying in one place. My machine uses a zigzag for button holes. Every machine's button holer is different, so its hard to help much without pictures. Maybe you could look up your machine manual on line and print the pages that walk you through the process. I've been sewing for 42 years and still keep my machine manual in the cabinet drawer to refer to when going to do something that I don't do very often

the only adjustment to your machine should be to slightly tighten the tension and presser foot pressure. Having said that, make sure the buttonholer is oiled and greased according to the instructions in the manual, that a template is installed inside the buttonholer and buttonholer is firmly screwed down to your machine.

Without the coverplate, you may have to increase the presser foot pressure quite a bit to allow the buttonholer to move the fabric, especially if it's light weight.

On an older, straight stitch machine, the feed dogs are covered or lowered and the buttonhole attachment moves the fabric to form the buttonhole and zig-zag of the buttonhole.

Thanks for the help. Tom, I hadn't even considered that something was not right with the button hole attachment. I'll check that out. My machine is old (1958) but it's not straight stitch only. I have the machine manual and the buttonhole manual. I read both of the completely. The manual does say to use the feed dog cover plate but I also read online that I can by pass that and drop the feed dogs.

I don't see anything in the manual about changing machine settings, but I thought I remembered that. Off to play with the buttonhole attachment now.

Edited to add this link. This is the same text as my buttonhole manual. This is where someone said I could drop the feed dogs instead of using the cover plate.

http://www.theweebsite.com/sewing/to...ttonholer.html

Got it!! Turns out I DO need to use the feed dog cover plate. That added the extra thickness so the grippers on the buttonholer could move the fabric. It's working now.

(I must write all this down and put it in the buttonholer box for next time!!)

YAY!! So glad you figured it out

I've never heard of not dropping them or covering the feed dog. Probably a good idea if you Google what a buttonholer is. Ah I see Tom has explained it. Looking it up is a good idea anyway, they're the only way to get consistent buttonholes on vintage domestic machines.

Think I just learned something from KenmoreGal2: The extra thickness helps the grip makes perfect sense, and I'll be trying this out for sure. Thanks.

So glad you figured it out, we have that same machine as in your avatar except ours is a metallic blue. Now I will go see if I have a cover plate...:)

I like it that we got the results in the same post today --otherwise I sometimes miss the answers of what worked. I
think when I sent Joe a buttonholer it never had the plate but neither did I.