What sewing machine should I get?

[dewey]

Thank you.

I can't wait to get going on it! It's probably gonna be a bit before I can play around with it, which will be agony, lol. I wanted to finish up some quilts first but my kids are moving into a new house soon and they want curtains, so those will get first priority. (Nothing fancy, I'm just making those with drop cloths & sewing on a little trim.)

 

[dewey]

Yesterday she arrived! Her name is Pearl.

 

[dfr1973]

You've had it for over a day and no proud pic of her set up amid piles of projects?

 

[dewey]

I know, huh? It might be days before I get to play!

 

[dfr1973]

You mean you didn't drop everything else to set her up and take her for a test drive?? Gasp! You have much more restraint than I.

 

[dewey]

Hahahah, yep, normally that'd be me, too, but I had to wait quite a while to get a free moment. Can you believe that just now I was finally able to set it up. Once it was set up I started sewing, lol.

My sweet DD's been under the weather so, also just now, I made her a big jeans-bag to use for lake trips when she's feeling better. I threaded the machine, cut out the jeans & strap by the seat of my pants, crossed my fingers, and went to town, lol. That was my first project on the new machine. (Still have to embellish the pockets and add chain around the strap.)

I am thrilled with this machine so far. It took all of 5 minutes from unpacking it to being ready to sew. I watched a 5 or 6? minute video segment on youtube for setting it up, and it took longer to watch the video than anything else, lol. It's so simple to thread and operate. And so quiet. Maybe soon I'll be able to read up on the more advanced stuff with the different feet and stitches.

Thanks again, everybody!

 

[Apyl]

I have a Brother my DH bought me from Walmart. I have made quilts, crayon rolls, super hero capes, dresses and PJ's for my daugher and other odds and ends and still haven't had an issue with it. I did find out thought, that polyester thread is horrible and to never use it again.

This is my sewing machine.

 

[Egg Crate]

Just throwing my two cents out there. I do upholstery work on industrial machines and I also collect older domestic sewing machines (last count, 68 machines). In particular I collect old singer machines from the 1930s through mid 1960's. These are heavy, cast-iron machines with steel gears and powerful motors. The old black Singer 201 is full size with gear-drive motor is still considered to produce the most perfect straight stitch of any sewing machine ever made. The singer 15-91 is a similar machine. The singer 221 is a portable mini version and is very sought after by quilters. The singer 99k is a 3/4 size machine with belt drive motor - also good for quilting work and reasonably priced. These machines only produce one stitch - a straight stitch, but they do it very, very well. Refurbished machines can easily be found on ebay and they will most likely outlive most of us using them today. If you need a zig-zag stitch i would recommend a singer 301, 306, 401, 404 or 501 machine. Again these are heavy-duty machines that produce a variety of stitches and are built to last if maintained with reasonable care. In my opinion, no domestic machine made today even comes close to the strength and built-in durability of these 50 year old machines. 221 machines in good condition demand $400+ on ebay but the 99Ks can be had for around $100. The older Necchi italian-made machines are great too. If you do a little footwork and hit the spring garage sales/local goodwill stores, you might get lucky and find one of these treasured machines for next to nothing. Good luck, Ron

 

[dewey]

What a nice gift!

What happens when you use polyester thread, and do you use all cotton? I couldn't tell what model yours is.

Just about everything I've read from users on the 6000i is that it likes and behaves well with anything except really inexpensive thread, and something about coated thread (can't remember if that was good or bad, lol). I've been wondering if I need to get more of a selection of better thread.

I have a Brother my DH bought me from Walmart. I have made quilts, crayon rolls, super hero capes, dresses and PJ's for my daugher and other odds and ends and still haven't had an issue with it. I did find out thought, that polyester thread is horrible and to never use it again.

This is my sewing machine.

 

[dewey]

Just throwing my two cents out there. I do upholstery work on industrial machines and I also collect older domestic sewing machines (last count, 68 machines). In particular I collect old singer machines from the 1930s through mid 1960's. These are heavy, cast-iron machines with steel gears and powerful motors. The old black Singer 201 is full size with gear-drive motor is still considered to produce the most perfect straight stitch of any sewing machine ever made. The singer 15-91 is a similar machine. The singer 221 is a portable mini version and is very sought after by quilters. The singer 99k is a 3/4 size machine with belt drive motor - also good for quilting work and reasonably priced. These machines only produce one stitch - a straight stitch, but they do it very, very well. Refurbished machines can easily be found on ebay and they will most likely outlive most of us using them today. If you need a zig-zag stitch i would recommend a singer 301, 306, 401, 404 or 501 machine. Again these are heavy-duty machines that produce a variety of stitches and are built to last if maintained with reasonable care. In my opinion, no domestic machine made today even comes close to the strength and built-in durability of these 50 year old machines. 221 machines in good condition demand $400+ on ebay but the 99Ks can be had for around $100. The older Necchi italian-made machines are great too. If you do a little footwork and hit the spring garage sales/local goodwill stores, you might get lucky and find one of these treasured machines for next to nothing. Good luck, Ron

Thank you for your input. I just noticed that this thread has a lot of visits so there must be quite a few folks out there trying to figure out what machine is best for them. Some of the old machines are very cool.