My mom made everything for my sister and me until I got into high school. She made just a couple things for me at that point. I was a very petite girl, and all the age-appropriate stuff never fit me, so she would make stuff.
She also made a couple coats for us and some shirts for my dad. And curtains and matching bedspreads. She was very good at it.
Have you considered vests for the little guy? You might be able to get away with something other than button holes for a kid.
A time savings tip she did on all the kids clothing is to sew a snap on the underside of the button and then the corresponding snappy part thing to the other piece of material. No one knows the difference and it saves you about 100000 bajillion gigawatts of time.