Advice please

In the early 90s, I bought a Pfaff 6120 mechanical machine with quite a few stitches; it is a great machine that makes great-looking buttonholes. In

1999, I bought an embroidery machine, Pfaff 7560, which is a step or so down from the 7570, which at that time, was the top of the line.. All of these have been excellent machines and I'm well pleased with them. I give them lots "TLC" and have them serviced periodically. My latest acquisition, for my 75th birthday, is a BabyLock Ellageo embroidery, that is much more updated than the Pfaff, & I love it.

Sewing machines are like cars, not one is suitable for everybody. I have a cousin who would never have anything but a Bernina, yet, her sister swears by her Janome. From what I have heard the Husqvarrna brand is good. In my opinion and other peoples as well, the dealer is an important part of the purchase.

Pfaff has a website

with all kinds of info on there. In fact, all machine brands have websites. and so on.

When my oldest DGS was born, it seems I'd have lots of time to play with him and have fun. All at once he is a college senior, Time goes by so quickly. I've never gotten into quilting, but many people say it's enjoyable and relaxing. I hope I've been helpful. Emily

Simply, how many spool holders are there on the back(?) of the machine.

The oft-mentioned Readers Digest Book of sewing, also Singer do an illustrated Sewing with a Serger. I bought them, and one or two others, but after an initial read through they stay firmly in the cupboard. See if you can get them from a library or perhaps s/h.

Give or take, any of the main brands will be pretty reliable. You need to try several and see what feels right for you. Don't just take the saleswoman's recommendation.

Things I'd look for, *good* speed control - you'll tend to get that with the electronic models, the ability to stitch real slow if you have any intricate bits to do, needle control options - the needle can be set to stay 'up' or 'down' if you stop stitching, useful for turning corners, does your machine have a thread 'tie off' option at the beginning and end of stitching lengths.

I have numerous fancy and decorative stitch settings on my machine, I haven't used most of them, only a few that happened to fit in with what I was making.

Oh, and FWIW, try and access the NG direct from a news server, not through a web portal. Some of the posters here aren't too happy with the idea of web portal access.

Richard, you seem to be the only one, or at least the only one who complains regularly about those of us poor smucks who use a web portal. Perhaps that issue would be better addressed in a separate post, preferably one marked OT?

Erin

not having sewn much since high school. I am really enjoying it,

Hej from Sweden!

I'll turn 44 in a couple of weeks and have sewn during most of my 4 decades of life! Don't laugh, I remember DEMANDING a needle and thread at the age of 4 because I wanted to sew just like my beloved Grandmama. :-)

The best advice I can give is, just do it! See if you can get hold of remnants or cut-up old sheets or get scraps from a sewing buddy and just practice! Try out all the different bells and whistles on you machines. The great thing about cheap (or free) fabric is that you can feel free to experiment without worrying that you'll mess-up!

If you want to have a finished product at the end of the day, tote bags are simple and then you can use them to store your odds and ends.

Hope this helps! I'm afraid I need to put-on a pot of Darjeeling tea soon so my poor brain will wake-up. . .

Erin

Actually, some of us don't complain we just ignore.

For the computer challenged what is a 'web portal'? Why would it make a difference here? And 'FWIW'?

Happy Easter! AK in PA

Google Groups is a web portal. Sewgirls *holding nose* is a web portal.

If you are reading newsgroups and posting from a web site that contains the posts, it's a web portal, a pass-through as it were where you get access to news groups on your browser as opposed to a news reader.

Many ISPs no longer offer newsgroups (PHOOEY on them!) and some people who aren't highly internet-literate go to a web portal to have newsgroup access.

Well, feel free to ignore my posts!

Erin

Done.

"For What It's Worth"

On 23 Mar, 21:28, Samantha Hill - take out TRASH to reply <

aren't highly internet-literate go to a web portal to have newsgroup access.

Plus, it is convenient to be able to check your favorite groups from a cybercafe or a friend's computer.

Erin

aren't highly internet-literate go to a web portal to have newsgroup access.

I use Google when my news server is down, or when I'm away from my computer, but it makes me crazy, and I just read, not post.

Just be prepared for not a lot of time to sew....... my sewing time has approached zero since DD joined us...... Sarah

I only use it to look up old posts back in a thread, because Netscape stopped offering that somewhere around version 4 (to my chagrin)

imaan had written this in response to

:thank you to everyone that replied with advice, I appreciate it; if thereare more of you out there, please keep the advice coming, I can never gettoo much! I shall see how I go...I suppose the main reason my husband is pushing for the model with the bells and whistles is that he thinks I am likely to detour into quilting and the like eventually; he is probably right. When we had our daughters, NO ONE made them quilts, or knitted for them etc. My mother does not sew or do anything of the sort; and my mother in law does, but told us she is too busy with her own life to do such things. :-) And I feel, I want to do nice things like that for my kids and grandkids, rather than just buying something from a shop. how sentimental is that!

So anyways, my husband thinks I ought to get the fancy computerised model for what he hopes I shall grow into, so that I don't end up wasting a machine by throwing it out or giving it away, and buying another...

we shall see. As someone else advises, each is different, and it comes down to testing them out to see what works for me.

Thank you again...I shall keep you all updated. I opened the box of my Pfaff hobbylock (It has four spools, and I suspect it is a 4/3 model) yesterday, but have not dared to use it yet:-) I have reserved a book on knowing your serger from the library, and waiting to pick it up...tips are always appreciated.

Imaan Sydney Australia

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I started with a Singer that my first husband got from a pickup pile at a neighbor's curb. It had a knee pedal. It did a straight stitch, and I think that was it. I used it for 5 years. I progressed through several used and re-conditioned inexpensive Singer machines bought at repair shops. I think at the time the most I paid for any of them was $75. They all did the basic stitches, and a couple even did a manual buttonhole stitch. They never required repair....never broke down...and I ended up giving them to someone else. A few are still in use, from what I hear. My daughter has the machine she learned on. I gave it to her older sister, and her older sister got a little bit newer one on Freecycle with cams and such so she passed the other one on to Becky, who is thrilled to get "her" machine back.

I have a Janome 4800QC for my quilting and fancy stitching work. I got it for $700, half the retail price, from a lady who bought it, used it for 4 hours, and decided she didn't want to take the time to get to know all its little doodads and gizmos so she sold it to me and bought a much more simple machine. Anything too big for this machine either gets hand quilted or sent out when I have the money.

My workhorse is a simple Kenmore. No computerization. No up-down needle thing. It does have a buttonholer, and a few extra stitches, but not much. I use it for denim, fleece, flannel, and basic piecing. Rag quilts are handled by this machine much better than on the Janome, which prefers lighter-weight material.

Those machines, well maintained, I expect to last me a long, long time. I clean them regularly, change the needle with each new project, and stay away from cheap thread.

I would, one day, like a basic embroidery machine, so I can personalize the quilts I make for the grandkids as well as other things like shopping bags, and make labels for the things I sell with more than just letters on them.

I prefer the more simple machines because they are easier to maintain, cheaper to fix, and on my not-so-smart days, less capable of totally destroying a project I might be working on strictly due to user error.

I guess what machine you get depends on what you want to do and what your budget is. I stick to the tried-and-trues for budget reasons as well as for functionability and the fact that they provide what I need and not a lot of what I won't ever use. It's the same reason I drive a used Pontiac instead of a BMW. My lifestyle just doesn't call for it.

Trisha in MO

Why? What is so wrong with using a 'web portal'?

Not the posts, just their coming through a web portal. :)

Seriously -- get a basic but well made inexpensive machine and use it for a few years. I know too many people who, in the pre-computerized days, even, spent TONS of money on a machine that they expected to grow into and ended up either not continuing with sewing or else being so overwhelmed that they ended up not using the machine.

You can trade in your basic machine on a computerized model, but to spend $5000 (USD, anyway) on something that you might end up not using much is a total waste when a $500 mechanical machine would be just as well built and last you decades longer, if not an entire century.