So, I think I need a new sewing machine. Well, I know I need a new one, mine is rubbish and always has been, but is finally on it's last legs!
The machine I have now is the most basic of basic (it's a joy's machine - which is fine for sewing the dolls, but not for anything a bit tougher), and I got it in a swap for some fabric from a friend (see how cheap and nasty it is!), it's now about 5 years old, and has served me and her well but it's needing to go into retirement and I need a new baby to play with!
So, I have a pretty much unlimited budget (thank you hubby), but I am thinking I'd like to pay around £500 or £600 (because I am a sensible bunny really).
I've looked around and I am liking the look of huskvarnas, they seem easy to understand (a must for a techno phobe like me), but what about the huskystar? Does anyone know about that one? Am I better off going for a fully fledged huskvarna? If I am looking at one of those, should I go the extra mile (and pay the extra pennies) and opt for a Bernina? Or is that just being a bit flash?
What about janome? Pfaff? Elna? Other makes? I have heard mostly negative things about Brother, and I must admit I haven't liked the look of most of them (weird fancy features that I can't see the point in). The same with singer (I had a singer before and it was a nightmare, it put me off machine sewing for years).
So, this is what I need;
a strong basic machine that can quilt (by that I mean go through thick layers, and do a few fancy stitches, but not a million)
a drop feed thingy for free motion quilting
a knee lift would be nice, but not essential
something reliable and easy to use
HELP ME PLEASE!!!
Tell me what you use and why I should buy it.
Thank you very much x
EDIT (9am 28th May); I am going to Manchester today to a shop called Bamber's (family run, big sewing shop) and they have all sorts (including Berninas...oooohhhhh!!!!) So wish me luck! I have a little selection of fabrics with me to test on, I have hubby's credit card on hand...I'll let you know how I get on later today. Blimey, I am so excited. I am actually grinning right now!
53 minutes ago
27 comments:
So I am a Brother girl. I just spent an insane amount of money on one so I should be. It is actually my second Brother. My friend has used huskvarna or how ever you spell it. I think she has had one of the lower end ones and then moved up to one of the nicer machines. I spent a year going to shops and machine hunting. I picked mine because I could do large quilts with no problems. I love it.
Have to say it is only ever Bernina for me Katy. Mostly I use a Bernina Activa which is a fairly basic Bernina but it does everything you need and is about £700. I use mine everyday and as you have seen from my blog I stitch through virtually anything - plastic, metal and occasionally mini quilts! My advice though is go and try a few different machines first.
Gina x
PS I don't like Brother machines but that is just personal preference - nothing wrong with them as such.
I just use a cheap one from Tesco because I'm no expert. However, I do know that there is a shop in Leeds selling 2nd hand machines and the Berninas are at stupid prices because he doesn't like them. I'll check with my sister where it is, she got a bargain Bernina there.
I have a cheap £80 thing at the moment, and when it needed servicing recently I did some research and asked other sew-ers what they thought. The unanimous answer was Janome, and whatever you get, make sure it has metal interior parts ... not plastic. Just, whatever you do, do not tell whoever you buy it from that it is for anything other than PERSONAL use, otherwise you invalidate the warranty (a very expensive lesson I learned!) Also, be vary wary about buying from internet companies - one in particular is awful (email me if you want more info)
I have a janome, and I love it, it can free motion etc, no knee lift though (the pro ones at £800ish do...)
I've heard good things of berninas too, best thing is to try some out, quilt shows are a good place, there are usually lots of companies at them.
i'm going sewing machine shopping at the festival of quilts (nec, in august), most of the main manufacturers have stands there so am going to try as many out as i can. but judging by your description of your machine, doesn't sound like you can wait til then!. mine is struggling now, it's going sew, sew, bang, sew, sew, bang!
I have an el cheapo janome which is lovely, but then again I know nothing and just muddle through...so, what exactly is a knee lift? some relation to a stannah stair lift? I hope not, or you've deteriorated a lot since I saw you last...
I have a Brother and I am quite disapointed by it, but it does what it says on the tin!
My Mum has a Bernina, we all bought it for her 50th Birthday, she is now 62 and its still working well and sews through thick fabrics, denim and alsorts.
Good luck with the hunt
Vanessa x
Another Bernina vote. I use a Bernina Activa 220. It has a feed-dog dropper (you know what I mean...) so you can free motion. It does a selection of embroidery stitches, has a button hole function and I've used it to quilt all the quilts I've ever made. I've had it about 4 years and I love it.
Sorry, can't help you really. I have a Singer that I am really pleased with, but if you had a bad experience with one then you probably don't want to go down that route again. Good luck!
Cathy X
It's got to be a bernina. I have a second hand one which is fab but it's from the 60's so it's a bit limited as to what it can do. I've been coveting the bernina activa 230 (about £550), but I haven't tried it out yet, and I want to before i buy it. I think you need to go to a big sewing machine shop and try a few different models to see which one you like best.
Monda
x
Ooh, how exciting- a new sewing machine and an unlimited budget!
Until quite recently I'd been using my mum's Janome and it jammed all the time and changing the bottom thread was a nightmare. I reccommend going to John Lewis. They only stock the latest and best models, the ladies knew EVERYTHING about them, gave me demonstrations of how to use them and let me test whichever machines/stitches/feet I wanted to try. Paying £100 more than planned made all the difference quality-wise so I ended up with an Elna 2800 (now called 'Edna') for £200 (http://www.sewingmachine-sales.co.uk/sewing-machine/elna/elna-2800-sewing-machine-232.html) and I absolutely love it. It's smooth, easy to use, easy to maintain and will quite happily sew through 4 layers of heavy canvas. I've had it for 2 years and have only changed the needle once (because I accidentally snapped it- not through any fault of Elna) There is only one feature missing which would be useful and that is a speed control thingy. I've seen newer models where you can set the machine to sew really slowly even though your foot is pressing right down on the pedal.
Oh yes and Elna's Swiss and we all know that Swiss =good chocolate = swanky watches =army knives = quality :) If you can't tell, I heart Edna the Elna and highly reccommend her!
Hope that helped and that you've not fallen asleep with boredom and dribbled all over your keyboard :D Definitely try before you buy to end up with the machine that best suits you.
I've only used the Husky so I can't really compare but having said that I love my C20. It's pretty basic and I don't know if it quilts but the Huskvarnas are very good - it's what I was recommended by an independant sewing shop for my budget.
I'd go to a specialist sewing shop and test drive a few, get a feel and see what you are comfy with :)
x
p.s. sorry about the length of that comment
p.p.s. thanks to this post I now know what a feed dog is, discovered that my machine does have one and that had I know that earlier there wouldn't have been to many free-motion disasters :s
p.p.p.s. saw a Pfaff in motion at the Steiff factory in Munich and was impressed. Their quilting machines look great.
I have a Babylock which I love - it somehow always manages to sew through great wodges of material, is utterly reliable, has a drop feed and all the other things that I seem to need (although I haven't actually used the drop feed - it's just nice to know that I could if I wanted to!). When I was looking five years ago the lovely men in my local sewing shop (whose opinion I would trust implicitly) picked it for me - they said that a decent machine should always be metal bodied and steered me away from Singer as they said the quality of them has deteriorated massively due to being made in China with very cheap parts. They have told me that when I come to eventually upgrade my machine, then they would recommend a Pfaff and I've heard good things from others about them too - they seem to be of the opinion that they will last for years, and as they run a very large sewing machine repair workshop then I'm inclined to believe them.
I hope you have fun picking one though - lucky you! x
hi, sent you a whole email over why pfaff is the best and i have been trawling through their factory too. oh i forgot to mention that the same company that owns pfaff owns the husky (forget spelling that word) company too. so these days they share technology. so they are both good. my upbringing sways me to pfaffs because there is no phaffing about with walking feet if you buy a duel feed machine.
I currently 'drive' a very basic Toyota sewing machine. Mum, who is a brilliant quilter drives a Janome quilting one, and is madly in love with it. Not sure if that's a help or not.
Hope you have a brilliant day. x
HI Katy, im excited for ya!! a new machine and your hubbys card to shop with , what more could a girl ask for ! Looking forward to hearing all about it, have a lovely machine shopping day.
Sarah x
oooh - you lucky thing!
I have an old singer hand machine, a singer tredle, and an ELNA 6000 that my mum bought for about £500 years ago, then promplty gave me because she couldn't figure it out!
I love it, but we do argue every now and again, it really doesn't like 'getting going' much (I know how it feels)
Best advice is to try try try - if you find a good dealer they will let you have a really good go on the machines, I would even take a few fabrics of diferent weights etc.
I use Hobkirks in Blackburn, fab for a visit if you are in the area!
Can't wait to see what you end up choosing, they are such personal things!
Kath
x
I have a Bernina Activa which I love--it doesn't have a lot of stitches, but it runs beautifully. I've had it for years and it's only ever complained when I've attempted to do idiotic things such as sew through 4 layers of fake fur at once ; ) Good luck!
I would buy bernina if I was buying again. I have had a brother which was a good steady machine (still going strong, my kids use it)but it was very basic and I wanted more. So I then bought a Janome Quilters Comapnion and although it's very clever (digital) and easy to use I do find the sewing foot wobbles a little which is bad when you're doing quarter inch seams.In fact it's not very firm at all. On asking around I've been told Bernina is the best! So when I win the lottery that's what I'll be buying.
XClare
Oh I'm so exciyed for you! I have a bernina -can't remeber the specific name of the model, but it is a basic one. It is a manual machine, no computer-technology :-)
It can drop the feed-dogs, make buttonholes, do 20-30 different stitches....so basic! It weighs a ton, which is really helpful when trying to machinequilt :-) Anyway, I love it! Looking forward to seeing what you choose!
um, whats a drop feed thingy, and a knee lift? Damn I need to learn to use a machine, all this weird lingo has me lost though, hope you found a smasher, and smashed hubbys credit card too!
I have a husqvarna viking interlude (I think) - it was about 400 quid and you can drop the feed dogs, etc etc. It is not an all singing all dancing one and I do have some issues with tension from time to time but it has done everything I've asked of it. The local independent shop I bought it from say it's the model they sell to schools for their sewing classes as it is robust and straightforward.
I hope it's not too late to say:
don't buy a huskystar. I have an husqvarna sapphire 850 and a Bernina aurora 440, both awesome. huskystars are cheaply made in china and crap!
Hi Katy, I am so excited for you!! You've probably already made your decision, but I'm going to put in my two cents anyway. I used to have a huskvarna rose (or something other) and now have a bernina artista 730 and I have to say, I love my bernina. One thing to keep in mind is customer service and repairs. I chose my bernina (initially) for this because if it goes down, I don't want to have to wait an extra 2 weeks to get it back because it has to be shipped to kalamazoo! They do the repairs in the shop I bought it and all my classes are free to learn how to use it, AND, I can take said classes as many times as I like. So worth it in my book!
Can't wait to see what you have chosen! Lucy x
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