I've just recently gotten back into sewing and after using a friends new $150.00 Brother machine and having nothing but trouble and having had a great Bernina before, I went on line looking and talking with at least 10 on line sellers, the under $200.00 machine all recommended as the right choice-- something fairly basic, I chose a Bernette B33. $200.00 and I'm enjoying it greatly. Not too fancy, and fair more substantial that the borrowed Brother. I'd highly recommend it! Greg
Any sewists?
- Thread starter jkbff
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I have a Brother I bought with my Walmart employee discount when I worked there in college back in 1997. It's been great for what I do. But I also have a 1950's Japanese Singer class 15 clone machine, bought it super cheap on ebay because the seller couldn't test it due to the cord being so deteriorated it was unsafe. Of course I know how to re-cord it and did so I could tinker with it, but my ultimate goal was to use it on a treadle cabinet I had restored. I made curtains just a few days ago for our bathroom and did so on that treadle machine. So much more enjoyable and relaxing. I left the motor attached to the back so I can hook it back up if I ever want to. It's all metal, bulletproof, and sews super straight and true, but it only has straight stitches. If I wanted zigzag I could easily get a later Japanese model and it would still fit the treadle. A lot of those Japanese machines were made by well-known companies like Juki, Brother, Janome, and Toyota, among others. Those old Japanese precision deluxe machines will sew through ANYTHING and multiple layers at that! MIL has one too but hers is still electrically powered and has several fancy stitches on it. Below is the actual machine I bought for cheap. Photo 2 is the same machine installed in the reworked treadle cabinet . I had to re-glue all the veneer to the fronts of all the drawers, re-shellac everything, and make a completely new top and stain to match. Eventually I'll put the articulating mechanism in that raises and lowers the machine when the top is opened, but for now it's just stationary. I love sewing and crocheting and tatting so much that if I could make my RN salary doing it, I'd do it and quit nursing!
Those old machines are addictive though. If I had the room I'd have a washer collection along with a sewing machine collection.
[this post was last edited: 2/20/2019-06:35]
Those old machines are addictive though. If I had the room I'd have a washer collection along with a sewing machine collection.
[this post was last edited: 2/20/2019-06:35]
twintubdexter
Well-known member
<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">I'd take the advice of these seasoned members. Don't be like me and buy a machine with dozens of lights, bells & whistles that just sits there. It says "Made in Switzerland" whatever that means. I have 3 machines, 2 free Singers and the other almost as cheap because the lady liked me. I'm seriously thinking of re-purposing them.</span>
cuffs054,
What are you looking to accomplish?
There are many things I wish I would change with how I went about getting my machines, but now I have 5 of the damn things.
I will say, I love my Creative Vision 5.0, but I wish it was the 5.5 (improvements on a few things).
The Creative 1.5 is an excellent piecing machine. It has no problems feeding small pieces of fabric.
The Creative Vision has me spoiled though because it has an automatic presser foot, so that includes auto hover and pivot as well. (When I take my foot off the pedal, the foot lifts slightly with the needle down so I can turn my pieces.)
Something I wish I understood better going into this is needles, needle size, thread and bobbin thread make all the difference in the world.
What I wish I would have started with, after all the money I spent, was an old (vintage) straight stitch machine IN a cabinet, an old machine with a tall throat. Now I am having a dining table re-purposed to have a machine dropped in so I can have a flat bed for quilting.
Oh, the other thing, if you are going to be interested in embroidery down the road, buy a used high end machine from a dealer that will let you trade that machine in for something different and give you everything you paid back into the new machine. Get a machine with a full touch screen that allows you to modify the embroidery ON the machine, adjusting placement, sizes etc. Embroidery software is ridiculously expensive. Most of the Pfaff/Viking/Singer machines come with access to basic tools that will let you take normal fonts from DaFont.com or various places and turn them into embroidery fonts. The machines that have the screens built in that allow you to adjust layout will typically weld the letters together better than what the intro software will allow you to do on the computer.
What are you looking to accomplish?
There are many things I wish I would change with how I went about getting my machines, but now I have 5 of the damn things.
I will say, I love my Creative Vision 5.0, but I wish it was the 5.5 (improvements on a few things).
The Creative 1.5 is an excellent piecing machine. It has no problems feeding small pieces of fabric.
The Creative Vision has me spoiled though because it has an automatic presser foot, so that includes auto hover and pivot as well. (When I take my foot off the pedal, the foot lifts slightly with the needle down so I can turn my pieces.)
Something I wish I understood better going into this is needles, needle size, thread and bobbin thread make all the difference in the world.
What I wish I would have started with, after all the money I spent, was an old (vintage) straight stitch machine IN a cabinet, an old machine with a tall throat. Now I am having a dining table re-purposed to have a machine dropped in so I can have a flat bed for quilting.
Oh, the other thing, if you are going to be interested in embroidery down the road, buy a used high end machine from a dealer that will let you trade that machine in for something different and give you everything you paid back into the new machine. Get a machine with a full touch screen that allows you to modify the embroidery ON the machine, adjusting placement, sizes etc. Embroidery software is ridiculously expensive. Most of the Pfaff/Viking/Singer machines come with access to basic tools that will let you take normal fonts from DaFont.com or various places and turn them into embroidery fonts. The machines that have the screens built in that allow you to adjust layout will typically weld the letters together better than what the intro software will allow you to do on the computer.
jkbff, thanks for the advice. I'm still at the stage of awe that you push a pedal and a thing goes up and down and makes a stitch!
twintubdexter
Well-known member
<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">For someone who can't even thread the most basic machine, I sure seem to have a lot to say. I guess I've always been attracted to sewing machines, mainly from a design standpoint. The early Singer computer machines with their exotic names like Touch-Tronic and Athena were more like small pieces of modern sculpture. Unfortunately I've heard as many negative things about these machines as I've heard about the Northstar engine in my little Cadillac. So I'm not recommending them unless you're simply interested in design aesthetics . I did try and use the Singer that came inside the cabinet I bought and it does seem to work. </span>
<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">And who would doubt the late wonderful Polly Bergen and those 100 million people?</span>
<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">And who would doubt the late wonderful Polly Bergen and those 100 million people?</span>
cfz2882
Well-known member
late slant needles
so far no trouble with my 1983 touch tronic,but I think I have heard of nylon gears in later slants shrinking and cracking from age...
so far no trouble with my 1983 touch tronic,but I think I have heard of nylon gears in later slants shrinking and cracking from age...
To wash or not that is the question...
There seems to be two schools of thought about prewashing fabric before cutting and sewing. I'm going to be using a cotton print to make some curtains. One side says ALWAYS prewash the other says no unless it's for clothing. Can anyone share some wisdom? Oh yeah, I bought a low end Singer at Wally World just to see if I'm going to like this project.
There seems to be two schools of thought about prewashing fabric before cutting and sewing. I'm going to be using a cotton print to make some curtains. One side says ALWAYS prewash the other says no unless it's for clothing. Can anyone share some wisdom? Oh yeah, I bought a low end Singer at Wally World just to see if I'm going to like this project.
Tom,
I’ve made curtains using new, unwashed cotton fabric with no problems, so I think you will be OK not washing the new fabric first before making the curtains. But for any clothing, I would recommend prewashing, drying and ironing the yardage first, before cutting out the pattern and sewing the garment.
This practice used to be very important years ago, as most cotton yardage wasn’t pre shrunk or sanfornized, and the finished garment could become misshapen and shrink the first time it was washed. This maybe isn’t so imortant now with modern cotton yardage, but as the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
Eddie
I’ve made curtains using new, unwashed cotton fabric with no problems, so I think you will be OK not washing the new fabric first before making the curtains. But for any clothing, I would recommend prewashing, drying and ironing the yardage first, before cutting out the pattern and sewing the garment.
This practice used to be very important years ago, as most cotton yardage wasn’t pre shrunk or sanfornized, and the finished garment could become misshapen and shrink the first time it was washed. This maybe isn’t so imortant now with modern cotton yardage, but as the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
Eddie
For home dec projects I never preshrink fabrics, even cotton!
My wife has been a life long sewer of clothing and now is mostly a quilter. She pre-washes all new material. If you put ten fat quarters in the machine and run rinse and spin cycle each one will come out a different size. If you don't pre wash your finished project, it will look great until it hits the machine the first time you have to wash it. Especially quilts will get twisted and never lay flat again.
What Eddie Said “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
What Eddie Said “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
I think it depends quite a lot.
Yes, it's true that a lot of fabrics are sanforized and that currently fiber reactive dyes are less likely to bleed or fade or stain other fabrics.
That being said, I'd think it depends on how comfortable you are with change.
If you didn't pay much for the fabric and you don't mind wasting your time if something goes wrong, just sew it. If you'd resent the time spent washing, drying, pressing/ironing the fabric just to discover it did not shrink or bleed, you may want to skip it.
Me, I'm ambivalent. If I'm making a quilt and it's going to be rather densely quilted, even if if shrinks a bit I'm fine with it as long as it doesn't bleed all over and stain itself. I'm also unlikely to prewash any kits I bought for quilts that are precut, that would be madness with all the fraying, and I'm willing to grin and bear it if I wasted my time and money on something that got ruined, it's live and learn.
But most of the time, particularly if I bought yardage to cut myself, I will prewash it in *exactly* the way I intend to wash and dry the finished product. Many people will wash everything in one way and treat it after sewn in another way, and will be very unhappy with the results. A *lot* of fabrics in bolts are not on the straight of grain, they look like they are, but as soon as you wash and dry it you realize it was distorted during weaving/dyeing perhaps by the wrong tension on the yarns and as soon as the fibers relax it's visibly distorted, and you get a better chance to cut it right and/or try to fix it.
And if you ever intend to just wash and tumble dry it, do not iron the fabric. Press it, don't iron it. Ironing can undo all the pre-shrinking you worked for by washing/drying, and it can bite you in the but after you wear the garment and wash/dry it and you will be in for a ton of ironing again.
All that being said, for curtains I'd wash and tumble dry the fabrics, take a good look at it and decide if you even want to sew it. Most of the time, the answer will be a resounding yes.
But there was that one time I washed and dried fabric for a set of curtains I wanted to make, really pretty fabric, and it basically ruined it, so I have never sewn it. Still bitter about it, one of these days I'll either do something with it (not curtains for sure) or donate it or trash it.
Have fun and good luck!
Yes, it's true that a lot of fabrics are sanforized and that currently fiber reactive dyes are less likely to bleed or fade or stain other fabrics.
That being said, I'd think it depends on how comfortable you are with change.
If you didn't pay much for the fabric and you don't mind wasting your time if something goes wrong, just sew it. If you'd resent the time spent washing, drying, pressing/ironing the fabric just to discover it did not shrink or bleed, you may want to skip it.
Me, I'm ambivalent. If I'm making a quilt and it's going to be rather densely quilted, even if if shrinks a bit I'm fine with it as long as it doesn't bleed all over and stain itself. I'm also unlikely to prewash any kits I bought for quilts that are precut, that would be madness with all the fraying, and I'm willing to grin and bear it if I wasted my time and money on something that got ruined, it's live and learn.
But most of the time, particularly if I bought yardage to cut myself, I will prewash it in *exactly* the way I intend to wash and dry the finished product. Many people will wash everything in one way and treat it after sewn in another way, and will be very unhappy with the results. A *lot* of fabrics in bolts are not on the straight of grain, they look like they are, but as soon as you wash and dry it you realize it was distorted during weaving/dyeing perhaps by the wrong tension on the yarns and as soon as the fibers relax it's visibly distorted, and you get a better chance to cut it right and/or try to fix it.
And if you ever intend to just wash and tumble dry it, do not iron the fabric. Press it, don't iron it. Ironing can undo all the pre-shrinking you worked for by washing/drying, and it can bite you in the but after you wear the garment and wash/dry it and you will be in for a ton of ironing again.
All that being said, for curtains I'd wash and tumble dry the fabrics, take a good look at it and decide if you even want to sew it. Most of the time, the answer will be a resounding yes.
But there was that one time I washed and dried fabric for a set of curtains I wanted to make, really pretty fabric, and it basically ruined it, so I have never sewn it. Still bitter about it, one of these days I'll either do something with it (not curtains for sure) or donate it or trash it.
Have fun and good luck!
Think I'm hooked. Made curtain panels with a matching valance for the door. Kitchen may be next!
Tom:
Now that you are hooked (yay!), please notify the guild of the person who hooked you, I believe we're still running the "every ten people you hook you get a toaster oven" thing!
;-)
Now that you are hooked (yay!), please notify the guild of the person who hooked you, I believe we're still running the "every ten people you hook you get a toaster oven" thing!
;-)
twintubdexter
Well-known member
<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">A photo of those curtains would be nice. I'm sure you'll be moving on to more projects, although those curtains sound like a real accomplishment. </span>
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