The weather has cooled off here and it is over cast and cool here this morning. I am going to go to a near by lake this morning and walk and enjoy the moist cool air and all the water fowl. This is one of my ways of relaxing and enjoying life in the big city.
I made it to the sewing machine store today. It did take me all day to get ready and leave the house, but I did it in small steps and I was able to leave about 4pm. I talked to the sales people and bought myself a new Janome sewing machine. I brought home the new baby tonight and took her out of the box and she is a beauty. I am looking forward to spending some time getting to know her before I start my quilting class on the 12. If you don't hear much from me for a while it's because I am having such a good time playing with my new friend.
I did some reading, learned some new things, and have planned some activities that I am looking forward to doing over the next four months. Which will give me a positive direction to move in. I am sure I will be adding more as time goes by.
If you google "threads magazine sewing machine review" you'll find their 2002 article that reviews machines. the article is a bit dated but they discuss the qualities to look for and have a downloadable comparison shopping sheet. Their magazine is well researched so I would trust their guidance.
I myself have a machine from the 1980's that works better than most I've sewn on and its because it is (was) an expensive one. i hate to say this if you are on a budget but honestly with sewing machines you really do get what you pay for. I think that there are bells and whistles that no one really "needs" that you pay extra for but honestly the machines that my frinds have paid less than 500$ for a new machine have been really hard to sew with - the tension and basic machinery isn't good quality or well made so the thread breaks, skipped stitches and lots of puttering around fixing things instead of sewing.
the one i use I see is sold on ebay for about 500$ US which is a good deal if it has been treated well. If i had to buy a machine today, I would go with a used Bernina from a reputable store that sells new and used ones if you can locate that so that they can confirm its been well maintained and not abused. Though mine has been hauled around a lot and not babied much and it works really really well. I also notice the sewing shows are often using Pfaff, they are probably good as well. You could go online to a sewing community to ask people what they like too as another way of researching. mysewingcircle.com is one but i'm not too familiar with it yet.
Welcome its nice to meet you. Yes I am learning to quilt. I really find sewing very therapeutic. I am a novice sewer at best and have just begin to learn to quilt. I took a class last semester at a local Adult school. I am getting ready to take a class at quilt shop on Sept 12. I am now using 1978 Singer stylist that I bought back in 1978. I would sure appreciate any advice you could give me on a new machine. Being that I have been kind of living in the dark ages and a cave for a few decades now. I really don't know anything about the new machines. What brand and model of machine do you use? I may go looking again on Saturday and could sure use a steer in the right direction. I will be driving to another city which is 1 hr away from home to look. I am a LITTLE agoraphobic so this will be a big exposure day for me also. I haven't really looked at machines in about 30 yrs. The quilting class I want to take will be the first time I have stepped inside of a quilt shop. I have really made a lot of progress since I started the CBT program here in Jan of this year, even so this will be a real challenge for me. The more I know before I walk in the door the better. Any advice you can give me will help, and will be greatly appreciated. I look forward to hearing you soon. Oh by the way I love your avatar, it looks like the road to freedom to me. It is not showing up on my computer now for some reason. I guess I will have to check my system. My avatar didn't appear earlier today so I had to reload it. Well I got to get to bed now. Talk to you later.
I have used lots of different sewing machines in my time and would offer this (unsolicited) advice
- test them out like you have been doing. also test how to thread them and wind new bobbins. For quilting especially you'll want the bobbin winding process to be easy because you'll do it often.
- notice the volume when you are running it. Quieter is nicer when you're using it all afternoon like I get to do a bit sometimes :)
We havn't met much yet so I don't know - you might be a veteran sewer and know these things but I thought I would pipe in because some of my friends have bought machines that discouraged them from creating (thread breaks easily, tension hard to get set properly, etc..) . You want a machine that is so enjoyable to use that you want to sew all day! at least thats how i feel. i find sewing super relaxing. Let me know if you want to discuss more, I could talk sew talk all day... :)
