craftgrrl | Terrified of button holes....

I hope this post isn't too stupid, as it's my first. First part of it is a wee bit of a brag, since I managed to make :

(hoping everyone can see it!) Actually, I made both costumes, but that's beside the point. What I'm talking about, specifically, is the 1890's suit jacket that I'm wearing, which, lamentably, has NO BUTTONS because I can't get my buttonholer to work.

I've never made anything with buttons before (I tend to do early medieval, screw the buttons!) and when I tried making buttonholes with the nifty attachment, it just...didn't work. The stitches were too loosely spaced on one side of the buttonhole, and I couldn't figure out how you're supposed to neatly turn the buttonholer around to stitch the other side, ending up with rather lopsided, ugly button holes. However, I really want to finish this coat, buttons and all. Does anyone have any tips for sewing button holes? Is it easier by hand? How do you do it??