So there you are a helpless babe in the woods. You have just walked into a sewing machine shop (please don’t buy your machine at a big box store) and are confronted with too many machines to count with too many functions, bells, whistles and more that while a bit exciting are also cash drains on your possibly tight little budget.
So what to do, what to do???… the fact is that good machines come at all price points and depending on what you want to do with it even the simplest machine can be your dream machine if it does what you need it to do and do it well!
I know what I personally love in a machine but took my question to the virtual streets of Facebook as well and gathered the skinny on what others think are the most important features.
THREAD CUTTER – This is one of the most mentioned features and some would never do without one again so do try it out on all machines you look at. I agree that I love this feature but the one on my machine is S O S L O W that it drives me nuts! Now in all truth it takes maybe 4 -6 seconds but when doing lots of short bits that need to be cut this time really adds up. – Take away lesson – Wicked fast is better!
NEEDLE UP/DOWN FUNCTION – Just about tied with thread cutting is the needle up and down function. And while not a “sexy” feature it is one that you will never walk away from after you have had it. For those who piece, or need precision sewing this is a MUST HAVE. Being able to indicate that you always want the machine to stop with the needle in your fabric or not seems like such a trite deal but let me tell you… it is like the vibrator of the sewing machine world – you did not think you needed it and after you have had it you never want to be without out it… enough said?? – Take away lesson – Telling your machine where to put it rocks!
KNEE LIFT – For those who have not had a machine with a knee lift it can be an awkward adjustment but there are SO many reasons to love this feature if given a chance. The knee lift will raise and lower your presser foot so that your hands do not need to leave the fabric when doing the more fiddly parts of sewing when everything has to be just so! Down side to the knee lift is that is not always in the best place for each person especially if your machine has a large harp area like mine. In that case there are some retrofits and adjustments that can help ( more on that in another post) but if this feature is an option I say go for it! – Take away lesson – Sometimes you have make it fit!
SPEED CONTROL – Many of today’s machines can sew like a bat out of hell and while that is great there are times that you need to throttle it back a bit Speed Racer! Like when you are using a walking foot. Use a walking-foot at full speed and see why I say you need to go a bit slower… actually don’t try that .. it is a great way to break your walking foot. Speed control is also great for teaching kids and newbies to sew, it lessens the jack-rabbit starts and stops that are the hallmark of those new to machine sewing. Take away lesson – There are many times in life when slower is better!
Feature a lot of people thought they would love and is sadly under-used at best.
FANCY STITCHES – Yep, my machine has over 1,000 fancy-dancy stitches… I could use three of them a day and it would still take near a year to try them all! And while some LOVE all those choices a bunch of us have found that the extra money was wasted, so think twice before you are swayed by a sexy serpentine stitch! Take away lesson, that money might be better spent on say.. a new “other toy”… ahem!
BIGGEST THING ON EVERYONE’S WISH LIST –
BIGGER BOBBIN! – Take away Lesson – bigger is always better!
So what say you… What do you LOVE about your sewing machine, what could go away and what do you yearn for???
