Making a buttonhole on a Necchi 3204 sewing machine

Here are the steps to sew a buttonhole on the Janome New Home My Excel 18W/MW3018 sewing machine:

1. Attach the buttonhole foot to the machine.
2. Place the button in the back of the buttonhole foot and adjust the foot so that the button fits snugly.
3. Select the buttonhole stitch on the machine. It may be a buttonhole symbol or a number corresponding to the buttonhole stitch.
4. Set the stitch length to the desired length for the buttonhole. The machine may have preset lengths or you can adjust it manually.
5. Place the fabric under the foot and lower the foot.
6. Sew the first side of the buttonhole. Stop the machine when it reaches the end of the buttonhole.
7. Sew the second side of the buttonhole, stopping at the end.
8. Use a seam ripper or scissors to open the buttonhole carefully.
9. Remove the fabric from the machine and trim any loose threads.

Make sure to practice on a scrap piece of fabric before sewing the buttonhole on your project.

I don't see any reason to use a walking foot for sewing a buttonhole. The purpose of a walking foot is to move the top and bottom fabrics together. Feed dogs sometimes tend to move the lower fabric faster than the top fabric--a walking foot helps prevent that.

If you don't have a buttonhole foot for your machine, you can still stitch a buttonhole using a different presser foot.

How to sew buttonhole with an old machine

How to Sew Buttonholes with Regular Foot Sewing Tutorial with Alison Smith

Sewing Buttonholes Without Buttonhole Foot

Sew Buttonhole without Buttonhole Foot by Create Kids Couture

It could be that 8mm is the limit for the buttonhole foot. You can try making buttonholes manually with the sewing machine. Not really difficult. Just need to be careful marking the buttonhole and stitching. Recommend practicing on scrap fabric before trying it on the project.

How to Make Buttonhole on Your Sewing Machine Sew4Home (several methods)

Creating Buttonhole Using Sewing Machine

how to sew buttonhole without buttonhole foot Google Search

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Perhaps a manual would be helpful:

http://freenecchisewingmachinefiles.weebly.com/

Necchi 542 and 544 Lydia Sewing Machine Threading Diagram

Necchi Lydia 3 Models 542 544 series Part III Stitches Buttonholes

The method will depend on your make & model machine, although the vintage sewing machine buttonhole method will work on all zig-zag machines (just requires manually measuring and adjusting the stitch length & width during the process):

How to Use an Automatic Buttonhole Foot

Sew Buttonhole in 4 Steps on your Singer Sewing Machine

Sewing Buttonholes Without Buttonhole Foot

How to Sew Buttonholes with Regular Foot Sewing Tutorial with Alison Smith

How to sew buttonhole with an old machine

How to Sew Button hole tutorial

Sew Buttonhole without Buttonhole Foot by Create Kids Couture

Be sure there is a stabilizer between the fabric where the buttonhole is located so the fabric will not stretch or tear.

Expand exactly the symptoms of what is not working with your buttonhole function. There are generally 5 or 6 steps to a built-in buttonhole, so we need to know which function(s) is/are not working.

http://www.sewusa.com/Sewing_Machine_Manuals/Necchi_Manuals/3101FA_3102FB_Instruction_Manual.htm

How to Make Buttonhole on Your Sewing Machine Sew4Home

BTW, any zig-zag sewing machine can be used to make buttonholes without the built-in buttonholer or a buttonhole foot. The built-in buttonholer just took the manual method and made a dial to switch to the next step. You can do that manually on your machine. You just need to perform each step manually: knot-on, stitch the bartack, zig-zag forward, bartack, zig-zag backward, and tie-off. I've made many buttonholes manually on sewing machines before having a machine with built-in buttonhole or a buttonhole foot. Just be sure to practice on some scrap fabric first before trying it on your garment.
Until Wednesday Calls How To Manual Machine Buttonholes

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Are you asking if you can do a buttonhole without the special buttonhole feature? If so--of course you can. Sewists do it all the time on machines without the buttonhole feature or special feet. Be sure to practice on some scrap fabric first.

How to sew buttonhole with an old machine

Until Wednesday Calls How To Manual Machine Buttonholes

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I have 2 necchi sewing machines & have the following feet
1.all purpose foot
2.zipper foot
3.buttonhole foot

sewingpartsonline.com has necchi parts

You may be able to still get that manual, check with your dealer. If not you can call Viking at: 1-800-474-6437 if it's out of print for a photo copy of the original owners manual.

To make a buttonhole do the following:

1. Turn the selector dial to the top position, That is the first step of the buttonhole.
2. Turn the stitch length dial (the bottom dial) to the picture of the buttonhole, it's between the 0 and the 1 on the dial.
3 Put on the "C" foot and put the tension dial, (the small dial just above and to the right of the needle) on 4.
4. On a test fabric, sew about an inch or so and stop. Turn the selector dial down one click and sew the bar tack of the buttonhole. Just do a few passes, don't build up alot of stitches here.
5. Turn the dial down another click to the 3rd step, the right side of the buttonhole and sew until you reach the place where you started the left column of the buttonhole and stop.
6. Turn the dial UPWARD one click to the bar tack position again and do another bar tack like you did at the top of the buttonhole. Don't build up alot of stitches here, about three passes does the trick.
7 Remove the fabric from the machine and when you cut the threads, leave a tail about 2 inches or so of the thread. From the back side of the buttonhole, pull gently on the thread and a loop from the front thread will appear on the backside. Pull the front thread to the rear and tie off the threads and then cut them close to the knot you tied and the buttonhole will not come apart.

Dud you pull the button hole lever down so that it engages the foot?
sewman7