Greist 1Z buttonholer

My Brother sewing machine has a built-in one step buttonholer.  It works fine.  But, after reading about vintage buttonholers that are attached to your sewing machine, I decided I would like to try one.  There are two main brands, Greist and Singer.  Kenmore and some others are also out there.  They were popular for many years until sewing machines started having the button hole feature built in.

I purchased a Greist 1Z made for a zig-zag machine on Ebay.  It can make thirteen different size buttonholes with the cams included.  Some buttonholers only come with four cams.  But you can always buy more.

The lever on the side adjusts the width of the buttonhole.  The knob on the top adjusts the position of the mechanism on the cloth.  In my research, I found you have to be careful your sewing machine's presser-foot lever has room to be moved, without hitting the buttonholer.

Here is a picture of some of the cams used to choose the size and style of the buttonhole.

The bottom snaps open to drop in the cam you desire.

This is the buttonholer attached to the machine from the back.

The buttonholer as seen from the front. The presser foot is taken off, and the buttonholer is attached with a screw in its place.  Also notice the white feed-dog cover plate.  The buttonholer moves the fabric back and forth, so the sewing machine's feed-dogs are covered.

The buttonholer does a great job.  Here are several different styles done with it.  The three thin looking ones to the right are the Brother's built-in ones.  The Greist makes heavy-duty looking buttonholes.

No one seemed to have an easy explanation of what model to buy to fit my machine.  The back of the Greist box explains it very simply.

Thanks for stopping.