Oh my gosh...a mention from my past. Yes, my paternal grandmother taught me how to make buttonholes by hand using it. Harder than the dickens! I seem to remember she waxed it. Her name was Mary Louvenia but she was known by Louvenia her whole life. She made shirts for the workers in the oilfields on her treadle sewing machine, but had to make the buttonholes by hand. Sold the shirts for $1.75 making a dollar profit on each. Wow, how times change. She taught me how to sew, for which I am very grateful.