Sewing Machines

That sewing machine bug bit me.

Let me explain.... When I first started quilting I bought an Elna Supermatic - and what was not to love about it. I mean, it's green. Plus my mom has one just like it so if I ever needed help she knew the ins and outs of the machine.

But as much as I loved it, that thing is heavy. The case, which becomes a handy dandy table, plus the machine, require some serious heft.

So what does one do? Simple - buy another machine, one coveted by quilters - a Singer Featherweight (221). It's light, and it's darling. It's a straight stitch only machine, but the stitch is beautiful, and the one I purchased off of ebay ran like a champ after I had it serviced and bought a new power cord. Plus it takes the same low shank feet as the Elna, and anyone who's ever purchased a machine knows you can spend as much on feet as you can on the machine itself.

BUT, and there's always a but, I sew a lot. Especially for someone who works full-time and has a husband and kids and a house and other such things to keep me busy. My lovely Elna did her best, but she never could free motion quilt, and she stopped sewing over seams - a real problem for a quilter. I spoke with my sewing machine repairman and he said that unfortunately he knew the problem, but that he couldn't get a replacement part. In the meantime, I took a class from Mary Huey and learned her secret for chain piecing set-in seams. This is made easier if you can stop your sewing in a needle down position and I felt the lure of a new machine. And this time when I say new I mean NEW, as in just out of the box, never been owned by anyone before new. However, I'd never really gone machine shopping before. My Elna and Featherweight were both purchased off of ebay, I'd never seriously looked at machines before. I'd been in the Bernina store, of course, but only for fabric; any sewing machine that cost more than my car was not going to happen. So I started investigating. 

I decided that I wanted a machine that was great for free motion quilting, that could stop in a needle down position, and that had a knee lift for the presser foot, and that didn't cost more than $1,000. I decided that the Brother 1500 fit the bill, but just couldn't quite convince myself to buy it.

Then I started looking for machines on Craigslist and reading quilter message boards on buying a sewing machine. According to this post on ebay, the best vintage machine for free motion quilting was the Singer 15-91 so I got one. It came in a cabinet and has the manual and a number of accessories. But I still wanted a machine with a free arm and zig zag (I like to piece my battting if needed, and I might make clothes one day, maybe) so I bought myself another Elna Supermatic from ebay which arrived this afternoon.

Why didn't I buy a new machine? For starters, that's just a lot of money. I like fabric, I think I'd rather spend money on it than on a new sewing machine. Also, I've been "borrowing" my mom's Pfaff Grand Quilter, and I like, it, I really do, there's a lot of throat space, I adore the needle down and the knee lift, and it's not nearly as quirky as the Elna is, but it has some features I'm not in love with. The bobbin's don't hold a lot of thread, the thread cutter is worthless because it cuts the thread so short you have to rethread the machine, and it's a pain to rethread. I know another (different) model wouldn't have those problems, but let's face it, machines are expensive, and it was worth $100 to me to see if a different Elna would meet my needs. So I'm going to try it out. Time to get sewing!