button holes

[sharmelon.livejournal.com]

I know next to nothing about sewing machines. I can barely sew in a straight line unless I've made a pencil mark. :)

Anyway, I've been wondering for the longest time (and the manual with my machine just explains how to use it.. but eh..) -- what DOES that button hole feature do? My machine does both one-step and four-step or something of that sort. I tried it out to see if maybe watching it in action would help me figure it out. All I know is I put a button in this metal thing and the thing starts sewing back and forth.. and I just get this clump of string. Ha ha. Do I cut that out?

I just don't get it. O_O

Please explain? :)

Thanks..