New to sew

Hi, and welcome to the group. I don't post too often here, and compared to some of the regular posters, I could probably claim to be not too far from the newbie category!

I don't know of the Kenmore brand - it doesn't feature too strongly in the UK. I'm assuming it is powered. The best advice I could give is to try the machine out. As a beginner, you'd do well to see if the machine can stitch slowly and consistently, rather than how many fancy features it has. That will probably sound like heresy to the dedicated sewists in this group, but there's nothing more intimidating or off-putting for a beginner than having a machine that races away when you're trying to do something intricate, like easing a sleeve into a body.

For many years we had a Singer that seemed as though it had two speeds, flat out or stop! It was fine when stitching reasonably straight seams, but anything intricate was a real nightmare, just couldn't get the machine to stitch slowly. Try to go slowly and the motor would growl but not pick up, so just a tad more pressure on the foot pedal, and away it would race! I guess the real problem was with the electro-mechanical foot control - or my big feet!

I treated myself to a top-end Pfaff two or three years ago - best thing I ever did. It has all sorts of fancy facilities, and more built-in stitches than you could ever imagine. Yes, I've used some of them with success, but it's best feature is the ability to stitch slowly and consistently, and in the end, I find myself sewing more straightforward and conventional seams than any of the other features it has.

Nothing more aggravating to an experienced seamsman than the machine deciding that it knows more than you.

Two tips for a machine that doesn't want to sew as slowly as you want to sew:

Crank the needle down into the fabric, then just a tad more, so that it's barely started up. This is the point in the cycle that's easiest for the motor to get moving.

If the motor growls at you, instead of pushing harder on the control, give the hand-wheel a push. Feynmann says that static friction isn't greater than sliding friction, and he was a lot smarter than I am, but doggone it, I *measured* the difference in Physics 101. Something that looks a *lot* like static friction was going on, and nearly everything starts easier if you give it a kick to break it loose. Maybe static friction is as mythical as centrifugal force, but it's an even more-useful simplification.

Joy Beeson

Excellent advice. Plus, it's always possible that the contacts in the foot controller need to be cleaned.

Since I have never sewn on one of the higher-end mechanical machines, the others here might have more relevant feedback about an inexpensive, computerized machine like mine, but I do like it. As for me, I felt that if I really like sewing, I'll jump up to better machine, and not have lost much with the Brother.

Hi, I have two Kenmore's as back-ups if I need them and as loaner machines when I don't. I don't know to much about which numbers I have, and I'm hurting from surgery tonight and won't dig them out, but I would put up the money for a Kenmore if I were buying it from a dealer who has serviced it. If it hasn't been serviced in a while, (ask to see the work order/sales slip if buying from an individual) then it would depend on how much you trust the person, or whatever, but you'll pay at least 60 dollars to get it serviced so keep that in mind.

I usually get them from the goodwill or a yard sale for between 15 dollars and 35 if they have it in a case, a case will run you 35 dollars new (at our sewing center) so I buy even a junky machine if it has a standard case.

However, to answer your question with less rambling. Sewing machine, Go by how it looks, whether well used or new looking: by how many stitches it has, you will probably want at least a zigzag, the others are for later; by whether they can document that it was serviced within the last two months; by whether it has a case and even if it has a manual.

and be sure to ask why they are getting rid of it and if they say it belonged to their mom and they just got it serviced so they could sell it thank them politely and ask to see the service record. If they say they can't get it to stitch, but a bit of fooling around will make it work, pass. It's not worth the headaches in case it is to worn inside.

FWIW, you got MY brain dump. Kitty

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