Sewing Machine

[ellayaxP]

I'm trying to find a good sewing machine for sewing different fabrics and quilting. Any suggestions? lol  

[Radetzky March]

1. If you're on a budget, check out secondhand stores, repair shops, and thrift stores and try to find something pre-1980s. Sewing machines last a long time, and older machines tend to be better quality than new ones. My #1 machine is from the 1960s, in great working order, and will punch through fabrics that leave my modern machine whirring and exhausted.

2. If you do buy new, ignore the fancy array of embroidery stitches many have unless that's something you absolutely need. Your first consideration should be the machine's weight. Lightweight machines have cheap motors which burn out under heavy use, and plastic gears and other moving parts, which get worn away and brittle with age, heavier machines have metal parts and will last longer.

3. Take into account what type of sewing you're going to be doing... if you only see yourself working with quilting cottons and other lightweight fabrics, an all-plastic $99 machine from Wal-Mart will probably do you just fine for many years. If you're going to be working on heavy duty sewing, like jeans and winter coats, a cheap macine will burn out pretty quickly and it's worth the time and money to find a high-quality one.  

[kochi~mochi]

Make a list of what you need your sewing machine to do. How heavy a fabric do you need it to sew, how many different stitches are really important to you, etc.
Once you know what you need your machine to do, and anything that you want it to do, what i would do is take that list to a sewing machine repair store. All the ones around me are sewing/vacuum shops, and have extremely knowledgable staff. Tell them what you want your machine to do, what your budget is, and ask them if its a practical budget. Alot of those shops have the machines set up so you can actually test it out first, which is always good. Plus, you'll know exactly where to take it to get it serviced.
If thats not your cup of tea, look around online, find what machines do what you want them to do, the weights, prices, etc. I'd make a spread sheet, to keep it all straight. If your stuck between a couple, then you might ask back in here, its easier for us to give the pros and cons on 2 or 3 sewing machines, rather then all the sewing machines out there.  

[ellayaxP]

Well, Im deciding on choosing a machine from Singer or Brother, but Im not sure yet. I just need a machine that can sew both light and heavy fabric but I don't relly need all those different stitches. My budget is $150 or less but Im aiming at $100 and less, and I've already found a couple. mrgreen  

[damnatio memoriae]

be careful cause you get what you pay for...  

[lizstaley]

I'm probably going to make a few people angry here but... I'll throw in my recommendation.

I have a Singer Simple- I got it from Wal-mart for about $100. I've sewn everything from t-shirts, muslin, and fleece- to a satin brocade, fully lined kimono with an obi that had sew-through boning in it (a project that I thought for SURE was going to kill the machine if anything was, because at times I was sewing through 10 or more layers of satin, interfacing, boning, lining, more interfacing... it was INSANE), and over a year later and a bunch of projects, it's still trucking along just fine. It doesn't have a lot of stitches, not a lot of fluff and fancy things, but if you want a basic sewing machine, it's pretty decent from my experience.

Then again, I'm also one of those people who either break an electronic the minute I touch it (I am infamous for frying a scanner so bad that it melted the USB ports in the back of my PC tower), or keep it alive forever even though it shouldn't still be working (put my SanDisk 1GB USB drive through the washer AND the dryer on three occasions- it never stopped working or lost any data). So it MIGHT just be me...  

[ellayaxP]

Hey, its me back with more details. Since I have only sewed on a sewing machine once or twice and am a beginner, I need a machine that comes with clear instructions and is for beginners, and is not 2 loud, does not cost a lot (im not rich at all), lasts for a long time, and can quilt and sew through thick or thin, heavy or light, fabric. Thanks again!! xd mrgreen  

[ellayaxP]

hi!! im still looking for suggestions!! cry  

[Taonuviel]

If I can remember to come back to this when I can check, I'll tell you what not to get. I use my mom's, and it gives me so many troubles... I think it's a cheap Wal-mart Singer. But I'm not sure on that, so I'll let you know when I can get a look at it.  

[Taonuviel]

Ok, checked it out, and it's not a Singer. It's an Euro-pro Shark Automatic, and it sucks. So, don't get one of those! lol, there's my advice. I think the one my mom had prior to it was a Singer, and I don't remember her having many troubles with it until it died, but it may have been short-lived. She also had a vintage machine, I'm not sure what happened to it, we might still have it in the basement, but she had difficulties with it. That may have been due to trouble finding parts for it.  

[s.t.a.r.r.y]

As a beginner you should get the best machine you can afford. DO go in to sewing machine repair shops and talk to them. They can be really helpful and useful should you have any issues once you do buy one. Trying to get the cheapest machine won't always be good! Good sewing needs decent tools!

You can get machines now with automatic stiches so you don't have to worry about adjusting stitch length or width, you just choose it on a dial.

I have 3 different machines, 2 Toyota's and a singer. None were hugely expensive but have served me well.

A nice idea if you can manage it is to borrow one from a friend. Or if you still go to school or college (or your local college does courses) ask for a demo on their machines.

Hope that helps!