Sewing Machine I have known and loved

Yesterday Mary asked if I would talk about sewing machines, what a great idea!

I have had a love hate relationship with sewing machines for so many years, and when it came time to buy a new one I struggled with the choice almost as much as I did when I bought my car/truck.

Anyway, to start

I’m pretty sure that most sewers started as kids. My mom sewed a lot when I was little, especially the year my dad was in Vietnam- we had quite a few matching dresses 🙂

I had a small toy machine. I can’t remember exactly what it looked like but isn’t this one adorable?

It only got one star on Targets website so my guess is that like most “toy” machines it doesn’t work well.

I didn’t sew a lot on my toy machine- I was actually a fabric hoarder. My mom gave me scraps and I would lay them all out on a table and play “fabric store”. Hard to imagine that I was younger than Cole then.
I would fold and refold all the fabric but never ever would I cut them. Unless it was an ugly piece that I didn’t care about. I still struggle with this when I get fabric I love, that first cut is the hardest.

I know, I’m a freak.

I got my first real machine when I was in college. It was a pretty simple Kenmore, no bells and whistles.

I took a couple sewing classes but I have a bit of a problem when it comes to patterns- meaning I don’t like to follow them. I would get halfway through and get bored and never finish.

Because I was studying photography, I started spending more and more time in the darkroom and the sewing machine took a backseat.

Then I had a baby.

My mother-in-law is an excellent sewer (she made my wedding dress! An awesome form fitting Vogue deal that almost had her giving up sewing forever). She is also a quilter. About this time my sister-in-law started getting into quilting as well. They inspired me to pull out my sewing machine and started playing again.

During this time I probably went through three Kenmores. Trading up each time. I ended up with one that offered decorative stitches which I used a few here and there. But now wouldn’t really seek out in a machine.
Eventually I decided I wanted something that was good for quilting and I bought this one

A Janome 6600P. I looked at them all, Bernina, Viking (my mom has one),etc and finally settled on this one because of the wide bed, huge walking foot, and many options. I didn’t want/need embroidery so it was perfect. My second choice was the Bernina with the stitch regulator. I really love the Janome.  I have had it for two years or so now.
If you sew clothing this is probably not the sewing machine for you as the arm does not detach and the base is so wide you can’t really fit things around it. It is really made for quilting- it comes with a table that slides around it so it keeps your quilt level while you are machine quilting.

My Janome gets very little use these days- I have made two quilts in the last couple years, an Amy Butler quilt sorta like this one

and a Denyse Schmidt one.

So what do I use now? A big ugly industrial machine that can sew through anything, including my fingers (there was a bit of a learning curve with this machine!)

You can read about the machine here

I was going to post a picture but it’s really not worth it (you can see a picture on the above link). It’s a big metal deal that sits in a table with a big separate motor and it has to be oiled!

It’s loud but fast and very powerful.

So there you have it, my exciting world of sewing machines.

Here are a couple things to keep in mind if you are in the market for a new machine (based on my own experience)

You don’t have to shell out big bucks for a decent machine. These days machines come with all kinds of features, if it is something you will never use (like for me embroidery), don’t pay for it.

Investigate the makers of machines- a lot of the machines are made by the same company, just with different names (Janome makes kenmores- kenmores are cheaper than janome….)

Hope this helps

Thanks Mary for the great suggestion!