craftgrrl | Button holes are evil.

I am making a steampunk shirt for my boyfriend (from this tutorial) and I've gotten to the point where I need to make a button hole. Through much trial and error and forehead smacking I've come to the decision that button holes are evil. I've watched every tutorial I could find and have tested on about 20 sample swatches with no really usable results. What I want to know is can I just hand sew the button hole? I was under some impression that machining them would make for a more durable finished product, but right now I just want a FINISHED product, period. My mom suggested Velcro, but eh. I rather not go that route.