Thursday, May 1, 2008

tools

i am in the market for a new sewing machine. i have found ones i like (in my price range) from bernina, brother, singer and janome. do any of you have a brand you are loyal to? one that you had a bad experience on?

any advice from an actual person would be very helpful.

i need it to do mostly accessories (bags, wallets, etc) and some clothing. no quilts yet :)

4 comments:

Kali Kurtz said...

I've been happy with my Elna... I think I paid $400ish for it. No problems yet, and I've had it for 5yrs? I think. But if you can afford the 'big buck' machines I would go for an industrial... Juki. Its just a nicer finish for clothing and such. And faster. Good luck!

Lisa E. said...

I love my Janome. I've had it since 1995 (I think) and it changed the way I think about sewing. I used to have a very clunky White -- it made so much noise and rattled, I hated to use it. I love the stitches, I love the quiet, I love the machine.

My sister swears by her Berninas. She's had a couple and has loved them (she upgraded when she developed more quilting interest).

Personally, I think you'll be happy with any of the brands you mentioned...Test drive them all, and buy the one that has the best combination of features and price -- and where you feel comfortable in the shop. YOu may need service and it's good to have a shop you're comfortable with.

Anonymous said...

i love my bernina. i have the activa 220 and i bought it almost two years ago. like lisa said, look for a shop where you feel comfortable. the people at my bernina dealer are AWESOME! whenever i get stuck on something or when it seems like something isn't going right with a project, i can go to them for help. berninas aren't cheap but i really do expect to be using my machine for years and years.

Rebekah said...

I have the 6260QC (http://janome.com/index.cfm/Machines/Quilting/6260QC#Machines_Overview) and so far it's been great. When I got it I had no idea how "into" sewing I would get and I was a bit worried that I had overbought my machine, but now I'm thankful that I got what I did. I spent about $650 on it, but that was two years ago, so the price should have come down since then. There hasn't been a single thing that this machine can't do and it has worked great for me! The only problem I have with it is that sometimes the bobbin winder gets tangled and I end up having to unwind it by hand and start over. When I was looking at machines I signed up for a free one month trial at patternreview.com and looked at all of their sewing machine reviews. It helped me narrow down my choice to a Janome. I have secret dreams of one day buying a Bernina with a stitch regulator, but if the funds never come around for that, I don't think I'll be disappointed to have to use this machine forever. : )