I recently embarked on the most fun shopping experience I
have had to date—getting a new sewing machine! It was a lot of information to
take in and tracking down dealers in my area and doing research to know what
questions to ask was a lot of hard work. In the end, I’m glad I did my due
diligence and am happy with the machine I chose.
To date, I have been sewing on my great-grandma’s 1950’s
Singer. This is truly an extraordinary machine, especially considering it is
over 60 years old and I have used it for the past ten years to sew nearly 50
quilts! I’m a little nostalgic about doing my first quilt not using this
machine—I have now christened her Old Dorothy because both of her owners were
named Dorothy and every good machine needs a name—but I’m super excited to use
my new machine for the first time.
So . . . what did I get? We’ll, its on back order, so let’s talk about what I
learned first and then I'll post photos of my new machine. Hey, if I have to wait you do too!
When I started this process I did some online searches to
see what the best machine was. Most of the feedback was not that helpful as
everyone said that the most important thing is support and to make sure it
“does what you want it to do”. Ok, so I want it to sew and I want to have
someone I can call to help me through issues. That led me to focusing on purchasing
from a dealer and not a box store. For me that was the right decision as I am
looking to gain new skills and expand my project base. But it still didn’t tell
me what brand to get, seeing as I am now brandless since Singers are not the
same machines that my grandmother bought.
The next issue I ran into was price range. There are a TON
of beautiful, capable machines out there today. But honestly, thinking
of going from a 1950’s basic Singer with no digital anything to a deluxe, sensor-equipped
smart machine was a bit daunting. Don’t get me wrong, I completely wanted to
step into the 21st century and get a machine with some digital
capabilities, but I’m not quite ready to start sewing on a touch screen
machine—as my friend said, it would be like going from a model T to a rocket
ship. Additionally, my price range was nowhere near what the top of the line
beauties cost.
So, what do you get for a nice, basic machine when you are
looking to upgrade—somewhat slowly—and have room to learn and grow on a budget?
I checked out Bernina, Pfaff, Viking, Elna, Janome and Baby Lock, and looked at
machines between $500 and $1,000.
Reviews of each brand, and the big reveal of what I got coming your way soon!
