can you help a hopeless beginner? And how do you do button holes?

[EverythingsPink]

I'm desperate to have a go at sewing! I'm strapped for cash though and as I didn't want to splash out on a proper sewing machine until I'd convinced myself (and other half) that this is not one of my usual fads I bought one of those little portable sewing machines that cost about £20. I think they're designed for doing little jobs like repairing a hem or whatever (and are ideal for taking to a caravan as the box says, )but can you actually SEW with them?

To be honest the instructions had me a bit confused but I'm sure i'll eventually muddle through it - but one thing i can't fathom out - can you make button holes on a machine like this?

Hope this makes sense to someone and you can help me out?

(failing the button hole thing is there any simple baby patterns out there for me to try that don't involve buttons??)

Thanks ladies

i don't think you can do button holes with a machine that sews with just one thread.

you should ask on freecycle if anyone has a sewing machine otherwise you would need to do the button holes by hand.

To do buttonholes you need a zigzag stitch - I suspect the portable machine doesn't do anything other than straight stitch?

Otherwise it's buttonholes by hand, or choose a different fastening. You might find that snaps are a better bet for baby clothes than buttons anyway; something like these are fairly easy to attach. You might also find them in a decent haberdashers' (I love that word!).

You need to straight stitch around where you want the hole. Do a few longer stitches at each end to stop the hole from tearing.

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a bit like that iyswim. Then cut the hole in the middle and use blanket stitch to finely hem all the way around top and bottom.

:-D

Thanks for the advice everyone. That's great - I'll give your suggestions a go.

Ta