machine suggestions? (and update on old Bernina)

[Deborah W.]

Oh be sure NOT to buy a "NEW" Singer Featherweight. They are not the same as the ones we are talking about. The original Featherweight is the Featherweight 221 and was made from about 1935 until about 1960. They are not made anymore, you have to buy them used and refurbished on Ebay, or from a specialty dealer online. They do range from about $450 - $800 US. The 221 is all metal, a small portable machine - only 12 lbs. It only does a strait stitch, but it does that perfectly!

[Rita C.]

When my singer sewing machine stopped working for me I bought myself a Lidl sewing machine. I don't know if you have Lidl in Brazil? But it was about €70 - which by the way is the least amount we would pay for a service on a machine here! It was a mechanical machine and did lots of things. I bought a generic darning foot and did FMQ (free motion quilting) on it too. I also bought a generic walking foot too. A walking foot will feed the fabric evenly top and bottom when you have several layers of fabric like a quilt sandwich. A lot of the newer machines have a built in feature instead with a special foot you either connect or attach. I learned a lot from using that Lidl machine. It's just a thought if you can't get the Bernina to work for you as it won't break the bank.

As for the foot pressure - for example, if you are doing raw-edge applique and you are blanket stitching around the outside of it (or zig-zag, or blind hem stitch, or whatever fancy stitch that takes your fancy), if you reduce the foot pressure, if your machine has this feature, then you can get the fabric to turn a lot more easily even if you don't have a knee lift. It won't illiminate the need to keep lifting your presser foot but it will reduce the amount. When I use my new machine it suggests turning the pressure down to 4 - the default position is 7. Even the featherweight has a foot pressure thing on the top of the machine at the left end where you thread the needle. You may find that your Bernina has one too. Sometimes it's has to be twisted like a screw and sometimes it is like a button or a dial. It is not essential but can help sometimes.

My gut feeling about your Bernina is that it will get fixed - but it might need the Bernina man to do it. It would be worth the trip. I have a friend who has a very old Bernina which her father bought for her mother as a wedding present in South Africa (I think it is called a 'Record' ?) Anyway, when her mother left SA a few years ago to return to Scotland Laura got the machine and had it serviced. After a few teething problems she has it working properly and the stitches (although not many to choose from) are beautiful.

You should definitely take a class or two. You will learn so much about basic machine sewing. And if they are not running a class on basic machine sewing then ask them if there is somebody who would teach you. There are lots of tutorials on Youtube that might help as well.
Good luck and I hope it gets sorted soon.

[Norma H.]

I think your questions are well answered by the others on this forum but I have a few comments still. The knee lift is so nice to have. I miss it when I use my two machines that doesn't. I have had two students this winter with fairly new Pfaff machines and their machines automatically hovered the presser foot when they put on the needle down position.

I know from a dealer (Viking, Janome and Pfaff) that she admires the Janome machines because their motor is stronger than most others.

I did a little search for you. As someone else said you could learn so much from the internet. Here is a link
http://www.craftsy.com/class/Sewing-Machine-911/77
It seems like it's a free class. I don't have time to watch it now to see how good it is but I have access to two other classes there and they are superb, so give it a try. Even if you have to pay their classes are fairly prized and you have access to them forever (or as they say as long as computers are around )

I wish you luck trusting that your machine can be working nicely again and remember it's never boring to help a new quilter or anyone who needs it.

[Norma H.]

Hi Heather - you haven't asked any dumb questions yet, the dumb questions are the ones you want to ask, but don't!

I would say that all the others have managed to cover all of your queries pretty well but here is my penny's worth.

Adjustable foot pressure - it would be surprising if any machine did not have this, it is as stated before how tightly the foot that you lower is held down. on my first quilt (done quilt as you go) I reduced the pressure and it was easier to rotate the quilt sandwich around corners and curves smoothly.

(Automatic) Needle Down - if the needle is up when you stop and move your hands/fabric what happens is the sandwich will probably move sideways and when you start stitching again you will have a 'dog-leg' in your line of stitching. If you don't have this facility, whilst stitching you must keep the mantra 'Stop, Put the needle down into the work, now it is safe to move it to its new position' in your head the whole time. It is one of the first 'nice to haves' in my mind.

Knee-bar - as Lois says it is a 'third hand', added to which you usually use the right hand passing through the harp (the hole between the needle head and the main upright of the machine) to lower and lift the foot, this can be very awkward to do if the harp is completely full of quilt. This would probably be my second 'nice to have' And whilst we have mentioned harps - the bigger the better if you plan on quilting full sized quilts on the machine.

As Rita mentioned you can do a lot on a very basic (cheap) machine - I can remember reading a leaflet from the 30's talking about free motion embroidery and doing zig-zag stitch on a straight stitch machine - that is some determination & skill to pull off!

Since you mentioned you have a 60 day guarantee - use it, go and show the problems to the repair man & get him to show you the solutions, since you don't have the words you will have to use actions, and good luck.

[Kathryn S.]

Heather, another big advantage of needle down is when you are sewing a seam. Lifting the presser foot to adjust the fabric at that time, with the needle down, means that your seam won't go wonky when you resume sewing. I use needle down almost all the time when I'm sewing.
My knee lift doesn't agree with my knee, so i don't use it, but I can see that it would be nice to use.
When I'm doing machine applique, being able to adjust the presser foot pressure lets me move the fabric under the foot more easily without having to lift the presser foot so often. My old Pfaff doesn't have the ability to adjust the presser foot pressure, and it was a fight to sew curvy lines since it held on to the fabric pretty tight. I can adjust the pressure with my Janome and it's much easier.

I keep thinking about why your thread is breaking. For me, upper thread tension is often why my thread breaks. That could be that I've caught something in the threading path, or that I have the top tension set high in relation to the bobbin tension. A couple of days ago, I kept wondering why my top tension was so high- turns out that I didn't have the BOBBIN thread in its tension mechanism!

I agree, that it would be good to take the machine back and ask them to demo, and have you sew in front of them. There must be an answer!
Kathy

[Rita C.]

Heather, I was just looking at one Nancy Zeiman's shows and thought that you might find a lot there to help you on your sewing journey. Here's a link:

http://www.wpt.org/sewingwithnancy/sewing.cfm

Happy sewing.

[Rita C.]

I love my Pfaff Creative 2.0 and my newest baby, a Pfaff Creative Sensation. Would this Pfaff dealer be just as annoyingly distant from you, as your Bernina dealer? http://webservices.us.vsmgroup.com/G...px?Brand=Pfaff (I went on the Pfaff Global website, for dealer locator, clicked Latin America, then Brasil, to find this dealer in Sao Paulo. I wish you the best of luck sorting out your sewing machine repair/support in Brazil, and in learning a new language! Brave & adventurous, girl!

[Rita C.]

Hello again, everyone! I don't know what happened, as I stopped getting email updates to this thread and am just now seeing the entire 2nd page of replies! Yikes!

Many good links here, and I will check all of them out. Thank you!!

I will attempt to take the Bernina back to the place that tried to fix it and see if he & I can't sort this out, but I am honestly mostly giving up on it *for the time being.* He admitted to me when I first took the machine that he could only fix it if it was one particular kind of problem, so I don't know if he'll have any luck. But I'll try; it's a bit of a hassle as we have only 1 car, which my husband uses for work and I am home with the 3 boys during the day (I home school them), so we can only go on weekends, and then the place is very crowded. But I'll make one last effort.

My thought at this point --- we'll be in the US in August, and I will have somewhere around US $250 to $300 that I can spend on getting a machine. I have been looking on-line and see that the Janome Jem line (particularly the Jem Gold) is in that range, and one or two other models by Janome are under $200 as well. Prices here are atrocious, so better to wait and buy in the US. The local shop I frequent when on my US trips "just so happens" to be a Janome dealer, and I've emailed them to see what they have to say about a machine for me.

I did email the Bernina dealer here but as of yet (roughly a week or so later) they have not emailed me back yet. I think I will just shelve my Bernina for the time being, since support will be an on-going problem, and once we return to the US permanently then try and get it serviced, etc. Meanwhile, an intro-level Janome should serve my needs nicely, I think. And the local dealers all service Janome, so if I do have issues, it will be much easier to get help than for a Bernina.

so, that's the current plan. Meanwhile, I'm piecing a quilt for my oldest son, piecing a baby quilt for my soon-to-be niece, and designing in my brand new EQ7 that just arrived in the mail, an early Christmas gift from my dad, which more than makes up for the frustration of the Bernina which was my gift this past Christmas! Oh, and still working on the diary quilt, too....

If anyone has further suggestions on machines, especially in the $200 or so price range (allowing the other $50 or so to go to the extra feet, etc. that I might need) I would love to hear from you on that. I see that the Jem Gold is pretty consistently priced at $199 all over the web, so hopefully my "local" (in the US) dealer will be able to match that as well and I'll be fine. Then a few years from now when I'm back in the US and can get the Bernina going happily, I'll have the little Janome as a back-up. I know the Jem Gold is only a 3/4 size machine, which yes, will make quilting full size things difficult, but anything is better than hand quilting, and the small size is a plus for being able to carry it over here in our luggage, etc.

Anyway, just wanted to update and say a belated thank you since I hadn't seen these later posts until now. Thank you, everyone!

Oh, if ever you guys want to see pictures, I blog. Some about life in Brazil, some about just daily life as a mom, but lately more & more is about the quilting. My blog is http://www.musings-onthemove.blogspot.com if you guys ever want to pop over for a peek.

[Rita C.]

I love my Pfaff Creative 2.0 and my newest baby, a Pfaff Creative Sensation. Would this Pfaff dealer be just as annoyingly distant from you, as your Bernina dealer? http://webservices.us.vsmgroup.com/G...px?Brand=Pfaff (I went on the Pfaff Global website, for dealer locator, clicked Latin America, then Brasil, to find this dealer in Sao Paulo. I wish you the best of luck sorting out your sewing machine repair/support in Brazil, and in learning a new language! Brave & adventurous, girl!

Thank you!

Yes, unfortunately, that dealer is also annoyingly distant. We are roughly 1 to 2 hours from Sao Paulo, depending on traffic, which side of the city that is, etc. It saddens me that in all of Brasil there is only *ONE* dealer for these major brands! although I'm fortunate to be as close as I am, I guess.

Thanks for the suggestion, though!

[E.M. T.]

Just a quick thought...re:3/4 machine....there are MANY quilt-as-you-go methods that will work very well with a lg.
quilt on a small machine. Good luck !

[Norma H.]

Just a note to my previous reply:
The Craftsy free class on learning how a sewing machine works is good. I have had the opportunity to watch it and I really recommend that you see it. You'll learn some of the terms too. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

[Norma H.]

Just a note to my previous reply:
The Craftsy free class on learning how a sewing machine works is good. I have had the opportunity to watch it and I really recommend that you see it. You'll learn some of the terms too. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Norma, thank you! I did go and watch the beginning, but haven't finished the full video yet, it's quite long! But what a wealth of information, and I can tell I'll likely buy access to a few of the paid classes as well.

Thank you so much!

the Sewing with Nancy link was also very helpful, so my thanks to the one who posted it as well!

[Norma H.]

The Bernina 1020 is worth the trouble to have it checked out by a Bernina Dealer. You will probably spend less time and money getting your machine sewing properly than figuring out what other machine to buy and then purchasing it. You should call the Bernina dealer in the town an hour or so away and discuss your need for some instruction on the machine and possibly to have it serviced or repaired. Plan a half day or so to make the outing and gain the knowledge and assistance you need. Most Bernina dealers give classes on their machines and even when they did not sell you the machine you can usually pay a nominal fee to attend the classes. Check out a local quilt shop or guild - there may be a local expert there that will help you too . Quilters are very friendly and love to help other quilters.

Best of luck getting your Bernina to sing for you!!!!! I have 2 Berninas and love them both



Kathy -

[pigtailpat]

If you will be back in the US in August and staying back permanently, just bide your time and hold onto that bernina (will it work on our voltage system here? ). Get the machine fixed and back up and running here.

The singer featherweight (original) while she's a cute little thing and I have one myself, it's a piecing machine only - her feed dogs don't drop, and since you are so new to quilting, I feel you would be frustrating yourself to attempt to quilt with it - especially a large quilt. It's a great piecing machine, no question about that. But if you want to quilt a top, there are other ways to do it.

A better choice, a machine with more power and still a 3/4 head is the singer 301. I have that machine as well, and it is a powerful, fast machine in compact size (bigger than featherweight, but not a full size). The feed dogs drop on the 301.

Once you get back to the US and if you are staying permanently, and can do a cabinet situation, another possibility is the 15-91. Great machine.

However, the problem with all of the vintage machines is that for top quilting (and by that I mean the sewing process of the top, batting and back), is that you must manually tie off your stitching to secure the stitches so they do not become undone. I love my vintage machines for their stitch ability, but, because I can basically sew only 1 day a week, I found the time involved in securing my stitches extremely a drag. I know you can backstitch, and have used that in combination with bringing up the bobbin thread both at the beginning and ending of the stitch. It still is alot of time.

I spent a year investigating a modern machine and settled on bernina. The difference is tremendous. So when you get back to the US in August, investigate possibly a more modern bernina if your finances allows it. If not, any of the vintage singers I mentioned are great things to look at for little money. I got one 301 off craigslist for $40, one for $25. Sometimes you can get really cool deals. The 301 fits in my camera backpack for airline travel, and it's a pretty good class machine.

Pat

[pigtailpat]

If you will be back in the US in August and staying back permanently, just bide your time and hold onto that bernina (will it work on our voltage system here? ). Get the machine fixed and back up and running here.

The singer featherweight (original) while she's a cute little thing and I have one myself, it's a piecing machine only - her feed dogs don't drop, and since you are so new to quilting, I feel you would be frustrating yourself to attempt to quilt with it - especially a large quilt. It's a great piecing machine, no question about that. But if you want to quilt a top, there are other ways to do it.

A better choice, a machine with more power and still a 3/4 head is the singer 301. I have that machine as well, and it is a powerful, fast machine in compact size (bigger than featherweight, but not a full size). The feed dogs drop on the 301.

Once you get back to the US and if you are staying permanently, and can do a cabinet situation, another possibility is the 15-91. Great machine.

However, the problem with all of the vintage machines is that for top quilting (and by that I mean the sewing process of the top, batting and back), is that you must manually tie off your stitching to secure the stitches so they do not become undone. I love my vintage machines for their stitch ability, but, because I can basically sew only 1 day a week, I found the time involved in securing my stitches extremely a drag. I know you can backstitch, and have used that in combination with bringing up the bobbin thread both at the beginning and ending of the stitch. It still is alot of time.

I spent a year investigating a modern machine and settled on bernina. The difference is tremendous. So when you get back to the US in August, investigate possibly a more modern bernina if your finances allows it. If not, any of the vintage singers I mentioned are great things to look at for little money. I got one 301 off craigslist for $40, one for $25. Sometimes you can get really cool deals. The 301 fits in my camera backpack for airline travel, and it's a pretty good class machine.

Pat

Thanks, Pat. In August I will only be in the US to visit for a few weeks; I'm hoping to spend no more than $250 for a machine while there. I am looking at Janome brand, for a few reasons. One, the local quilt shop I visit when in the US is a Janome dealer, so I'd be able to buy from them and get an intro class while there. Two, the local shops here use Janome and the machine repair places carry & service Janome without me having to drive nearly 2 hours (maybe more) to the single Bernina dealer in Brazil.

I plan to hang on to the Bernina 1020 and get it fully serviced when I'm in the US for good, but that is likely to be several years from now, thus why I need something sooner rather than later. And because I'm a little "gun-shy" at the moment, I'm planning to stick with new rather than vintage, used, etc.