 30 Wood Painting Sewing Buttons Scrapbooking 30mm US $3.00 
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 50 Mixed Multicolor Flower Pattern 4 Holes Wood Sewing Buttons 3cm B15468 US $11.99
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 50 x 2 Hole 12mm Wood Buttons Sewing Mixed color AB008 7day US $.99
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 50 Mixed Flower Wood Sewing Buttons Scrapbooking 30mm US $1.96
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 100 Mixed Wood Painting Sewing Buttons Scrapbooking US $2.20
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 50 Mixed Dark Brown Wood Sewing Buttons Scrapbooking US $1.96
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 100 Mixed Flower Wood Sewing Buttons Scrapbook 17x17mm US $2.76
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 50 Mixed Wood Painting Sewing Buttons Scrapbooking 30mm US $1.96
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 100 Butterfly Heart Wood Sewing Buttons Scrapbooking US $2.20
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 200 Mixed Animal Wood Sewing Buttons Scrapbooking US $2.21
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 1000 Blue Car Shape 2 Holes Wood Sewing Buttons 19x11mm US $31.99
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 1000 Flower 2 Holes Wood Sewing Buttons 15mm B14122F US $29.99
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 FREE SHIPPING 50 Flatback Round 4 Holes Coconut Wood Sewing Buttons 15mm Dia US $6.99
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How hard is it to learn to use a sewing machine?
I'm a middle-aged guy with no "home-ec" experience (I took wood shop.)
I'm starting to find more and more reasons lately where I think it might be good to know how to use a sewing machine. Like making custom bags for my bike, stuff sacks for my camping gear, tyvek rain ponchos, sewing thick straps onto gear, mending, heck - even just getting creative.
How hard is it for a complete noob to learn to use one for simple stitching, making button holes, etc?
What you need, though, is to find someone to show you and work with you for a couple of hours on the machine, AND to present to you a handful of basic principles--HOW something works and why with fabrics and sewing.
And this is going to sound wacky, I know, but your best bet with that is maybe a local costumer for a theatre--because such folks TEND to be less rigid about why people would want and need to sew.
What I would recommend in your circumstance is to get a solid USED machine--something like a well-taken care of 1960's or 70's era BERNINA (Berninas are built like tanks--solid as rocks) that does straight AND zigzag stitching. That will cover all of the needs you've presented, and give you a MUCH better machine than any department store new one.
Then ask around and find someone who'll show you the basics of machine use and care--cleaning (Berninas are very simple to maintain), how to wind bobbins, thread the machine, back-tack, straight stitch, change the settings. (Berninas have what is called a "Universal tension" which is MUCH easier to manage than traditional tension adjustments).
Practice stitching (this is going to sound weird) on junk paper, with no thread in the machine to learn to control it. Draw spirals, concentric squares, free-form shapes. Follow the edges of the paper using the guide, then your previus line of stitching. When you feel like you have the machine control in hand (this will take a surprisingly short amount of time), THEN thread the machine, and start sewing on fabric.
I'd start at Walmart, or a thriftstore or yard sale on something you care nothing about and that didn't cost you much. $1.00 a yard stuff.
Tradition and emperic knowledge has set most dressmaker pattern margins--the "seam allowance" at 5/8ths of an inch. Another common seam allowance is 1/2 inch--fairly common for sports gear. Here's a site for free "bag" patterns, but if you LOOK closely at the bags you want to copy, measure, add an inch or so (depending on the size of the bag) for give, + the seam allowance on all sides, you've got the basic concept down. Take apart a paper grocery bag and look at the construction of that square bottom--that will be VERY useful to you! Most of the free patterns on-line will be pretty cutesy, but what you're looking for is the shape and the concept.
http://henriettashandbags.com/Craft_Ideas.html
Remember to think about how the bag will CLOSE before you cut the fabric, and remember that fabric isn't like wood measurement. A casing with a cord through is is common, and you need to allow for a double fold-over for the casing.
Pop me an email here if you have any questions. I'm pushing 50, and I've sewed since I was 12. I've done theatrical costume design, I've sewed with and without patterns, I made drapes and curtains, and stuff-sacks for our camping gear... Anything you're taking about doing, I've probably done.
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