Sewing buttonholes and zippers? - novice needs advice

[mamaMAMAma]

I'm a real novice in sewing. Caught the sewing bug a few weeks ago and made some curtains, PJs for DD, and currently working on a 4th of July outfit for her. I've never done buttonholes or zippers and would like to find out how to go about doing them. I have a buttonhole "stitch" on my machine, but haven't tried using it yet. I also have a zipper foot and I've used it to sew on snap tape for dd's pjs. Any advice is appreciated. I'm eyeing a Hawaiian shirt pattern for dh, but it has buttons in it and I'm not quite brave enough to try it.

[BonaDea]

I find that about.com has answers to alot of my sewing questions.

here's a link to a page with zipper tip links
Zipper Application

Buttonholes
Sewing Button Holes: Placement, Measuring And How To

:shhhh: I use snaps for ds camp shirts instead of buttons. Granted he is 5 and prefers snaps to buttons for dressing purposes.