Shopping for Sewing Machine

[Pleater]

I have a Novum sewing machine, it is a New Home/Janome clone, and I have the same brand of overlocker - serger, which is useful for finishing off raw edges without having to fold them over.

We have been in this house about 25 years, and the sewing machine was put on a table in the corner of this room on the third day after the move. It might have been put away for maybe one month in total since then, but other wise has been there for doing all the sewing jobs from securing a button to creating curtains from miles of fabric.

It does simple embroidery stitches, plus a whole range of useful ones, all mechanically, not electronically, and has been so very useful over the years.

I have made all sorts of garments on the sewing machine, and added the overlocker about ten years ago to deal with the more stroppy fabrics, I have also added lots of different feet in addition to those which were supplied.

The one thing I would like to have is an automatic buttonhole instead of the four part one - it is just that bit easier to get straight and the right size. The automatic buttonhole is an accessory which - when given a button to hold, will create a button hole to fit, in one go.

You don't really need to have anything fancy for kilt making, but it is handy to have the blind heming, for instance, or a stretch stitch, or a binder, as you never know when it might come in handy to fix something. And if you do have the stitches/accessories you can do your own fancy shirts, make ruffles jabots cravats - cumerbunds, even hats and caps.

If you have a good sewing machine you can think about tackling 7 or 8 yards of hemming, or edging and joining multiple pieces of fabric as a weekend job, not something which could take weeks of spare time to accomplish.

[JimB]

Mine is a Brother. Just what they had at Costco that day. Nothing fancy and I'm sure it has all kinds of plastic in it. However....I've made 6 kilts with it with no problems. Of course it won't handle tons of layers of denim, but then if I get to a part where my machine won't work well, like sewing through a waistband where the pleats are, I just hand stitch that part.
It's all good. I think it was about $100-$150.
Unless you're going commercial I just don't see the need for the big honking machines that can sew through tin cans.

[Doc]

Tin cans? Try 3/4" plywood, the thread breaks after four or five stitches and trashes the needle but the look on peoples faces is great! I think what we were trying to say is if you can find an older all metal machine it's worth it for the long term durability and being able to sew heavier projects. If you have a machine like JimB and it works for you great. It's just when those of us who drive these things for a living tend to offer advice along those lines. I just asume that every body is sitting at a machine 10 hours a day

[emolas]

Tin cans? Try 3/4" plywood, the thread breaks after four or five stitches and trashes the needle but the look on peoples faces is great! I think what we were trying to say is if you can find an older all metal machine it's worth it for the long term durability and being able to sew heavier projects. If you have a machine like JimB and it works for you great. It's just when those of us who drive these things for a living tend to offer advice along those lines. I just asume that every body is sitting at a machine 10 hours a day

Never tried plywood but when I was in the Marine Corps we had a Singer class 7 that sewed through quarters with ease. I would rather have an ancient, clunky, all-metal beast that only sews one type of stitch in a straight line than one of the newer, fancy, plastic ones that you just put the material under and it makes the garment for you.

[Doc]

I have a class 7 at the shop. That thing is a beast. We have an air assist upgrade mounted to it, it sounds like a grumpy steam engine when you sew.

[kevinkinney]

Howdy,

If you feel the need to leap towards a lightweight industrial, Harbor Freight has some off brand drop feed straight stitch machines (no zig zag though) for just over $300. They're all metal light to mid weight machines that are fully capable of munching through any kilt fabrics. Delivery may kill you, but the excess weight and space requried to house one is well worth the price when your hobbies go feral.

We've got a stable of 12 monsters here, and we'll never regret buying any of them. Though some may sit idle for 6 months between use, they fire right up and work every time.

Give me an extra 20 sq feet of floor space, and I'll sneek over to Doc's and try to talk him out of his 7 Class. I could stitch a roof rack to my Subaru with that!

Kevin.

[Canuck]

I started with an old 1935 straight stitch singer worked extremly well.
Now in my stable is a Pfaff 463 (great machine with computer controled motor) Pfaff 1245 walking foot, Juki LU 563 walking foot, Adler 105(sews through plywood) Adler GK-373 walking foot. The adler 373 and the pfaff 1245 take turns in my movable workshop and gets it's power from solar panels.
Good luck hunting