Everything you need to know about Madam Sew's Buttonhole Foot

With this specialty presser foot you can easily and quickly sew buttonholes with a sewing machine. No need to mark the size of your buttonhole on the fabric. Just set the foot to the size of your button and let the foot guide you through the 4 steps of sewing a buttonhole really easy and quick. The result is a nice and sturdy square buttonhole.

To set the buttonhole foot to the size of your button, you will need to move the black slider by loosening the screw and tightening it when the size is set.

The white slider is where the foot is attached to your machine and moves along with the needle.

The little pins at the short edges are there to add cording to your buttonhole to make them more stable.

The MadamSew Buttonhole Presser Foot simply clips onto your machine with a snap-on bar. Remove your current presser foot, and then clip the buttonhole foot on. The black slider with the screw goes in the front.

Place your button in the buttonhole presser foot at the end which is closest to you - between the white slider and the black slider with the tightening screw. Push the black slider toward the needle and tighten the screw so the button is fixed between the 2 sliders.  The buttonhole itself (or where you want the buttonhole) will be sewn under the white slider.  The far end of the buttonhole is underneath the needle.

Please Note: This is for flat button measurements, raised or upholstery buttons may need more room and therefore a larger buttonhole. Add the thickness of the button to the diameter. If the button is more than 1/8th of an inch add some extra space.

Before you start, always interface your buttonhole area. If you don’t, you’ll probably get a puckered buttonhole because of the dense stitching. I never reinforce the whole strip if there are multiple buttonholes to be made. Little rectangular pieces will do. So don’t throw away the little cut-offs of interfacing. They might come in handy when making buttonholes!

Always test on a scrap first!

Measure and mark the top end or the bottom end of the buttonholes on your fabric. Which end you need to mark depends on what direction your 4 step setting is moving first. Mine is sewing away from me first, but some settings sew toward you in step 1.

Position the fabric underneath the buttonhole foot so your marking is underneath the needle. When the first step of your buttonhole setting is sewing away from you, you need to slide the foot away from you before you start (as shown in the first image below). The white slider is against the black slider. If the first step is sewing towards you, slide the foot toward you before you start. The white slider is against the back part of the foot (as shown in the second image below). The foot will indicate how far you need to sew to get the buttonhole exactly the right size.

I repeat, ALWAYS test your first buttonhole on one or more scrap fabrics, preferably the fabric that you are using to be sure the stitches are the way you want them and the button fits the buttonhole well! I had some trouble with my machine when I made this tutorial, I changed my needle, stitch length and the thread tension before I got a nice button hole. Bird nest alarm!

Set your machine to buttonhole stitch step 1. Check your manual if you’re not sure which one that is. The order of the 4 steps might be different depending on your machine, sometimes there are 5 steps, that is no problem.

On my machine it looks like this:

On other machines it could be like this:

Make sure your stitch length is set between 2 and 2.5 and your stitch width between 0 and 1. This is a widely used setting but you can make the stitches smaller or wider, as you please. Lace the thread under the foot and toward the back.

If you are worried about cutting too far, place a pin in the fabric across either end of the button hole. Your seam ripper will stop when it hits the pin.

Sewing on buttons can also be done with your machine. There is another foot that is perfect for this job. For instructions on how to use the MadamSew’s Sew-On Button Foot please visit the sew-on presser foot manual.

To check out this product in our store, click the image below.

This part explains briefly how to sew on a button with a sewing machine that doesn’t have a buttonhole setting. Basically you are going through the same 4 steps but you need to adapt the stitch width yourself before every step and know how to lower the feed dogs. Check your manual to see how to do this on your machine. This prevents the fabric from moving forward when you are sewing the 2 buttonhole ends. 

1. Attach the buttonhole presser foot. Set the foot to the size of your button as explained above. 

2. Set your stitch to a small stitch length, between 0 and 1.

3. Position your needle at the far end of the buttonhole foot, on the right. 

4. Sew a small, dense zigzag stitch towards you, 2-3 wide.

5. Stop with the needle up when the white slider reaches the black slider. Set your machine to a zigzag stitch, 4-5 wide. Disable the feed dogs so your machine will stitch in place and doesn’t pull the fabric forward. Sew 5 to 6 stitches and stop on the left with the needle in the fabric.

6. Turn your fabric around. Activate the feed dogs again and sew a small dense zigzag (2-3 wide) next to the other zigzag until the white slider bumps into the black one again.

That’s it!