A tale of three sewing machines- my thoughts on three different machines
My mum taught me to sew when I was quite little and growing up, I would always dabble a little bit with simple garments (rarely following patterns) and it was something I enjoyed in small doses.
Fast forward to adult Jodie who decided to do a little sewing (nothing complex, just some cushion covers and some simple clothes) so went to Spotlight and bought herself a relatively cheap Brother sewing machine. It was about $200 and did everything she needed it to do. The end.
Except...
... in early 2019, my friend (we will shift to first person now) texted me a photo of a quilt she had made. I thought to myself, " I have friends with babies due soon- I'll make them some quilts!" So I made some baby quilts on my little Brother sewing machine. He did a fine job as the quilts were small and besides, I would only be making a couple of quilts, and then, similar to all my other crafty pursuits in the past, get bored of quilting and move onto the next hobby, maybe come back to my sewing machine in a few months when I felt like making another cushion cover. The end.
Except...
... three quilts in, I was hooked on quilting. And amid trying to jam my fourth quilt, a queen size through my little Brother machine to quilt it, I wondered "Are there better sewing machines out there?" Google: "Good sewing machines for quilters" And yes there were absolutely better sewing machines out there!
I ended up deciding on a Janome- I was tossing up between the MC6600 and the MC6700. When I was doing a side by side analysis, I couldn't really see that much of a difference- in fact the only tangible difference I could see was the MC6600 was $1500 and the 6700 was $3200. I was sold on the MC6600 and purchased it new in July 2019.
Oh my goodness, what an upgrade! It had features galore. Some of my favourites were:
Heaps of different stitches (including the large zig zag stitch which started my love affair with zig zag quilting).
The ability to wind your bobbin without having to unthread your main spool
My absolute favourite- the automatic thread cutter with the push of a button
The ability to set the needle up or needle down at the end of a stitch
A huge throat- no more jamming big quilts through
So many lights
Big table to make quilting a breeze.
And I loved the machine and quilted on it happily. The end.
Except...
...six months in, the automatic thread cutter broke. And five thousand voicemails, emails, instagram messages later, I was yet to receive a response from Janome.
And then one night, I was sewing and my bobbin ran out but I didn't notice so kept on sewing. Frustrated, I posted a story to instagram "Sewing machines need to have a warning including sirens saying "YOUR BOBBIN HAS RUN OUT, STOP SEWING". I thought this was a funny idea.
But then- people started responding, "Oh my machine does have that function!" So I went back to the google. And now that I was a Properly Addicted Quilter, I realised how many features my Janome didn't have that were available. But it was ridiculous, my Janome was only 6 months old- i'd only just upgraded!
But then I showed my husband who is really into fishing and likes buying fishing rods and he had just bought a new fancy expensive fishing rod and he said "you love quilting, just get a new one!"
And then I kept searching until I found my dream machine (Bernina QE570) with features galore. It was a ridiculous price. I think my first car cost less than this machine.
But THEN I found a model above my dream machine (Bernina QE7700 for LESS than the dream machine- it was a demo model and about $3000 less than RRP. It still cost more than my first car but it was much more palatable.
So I bought it (the benefits of working in banking :-).
“Sewing machines need to have a warning including sirens saying "YOUR BOBBIN HAS RUN OUT, STOP SEWING". I thought this was a funny idea.
Oh my goodness, what an upgrade! It had features galore. Some of my favourites are:
Heaps of different stitches (including an even larger zig zag stitch)
A super large bobbin which can last almost the entire quilting of a throw size quilt
The ability to program the foot pedal to do different things when you tap it. So when I reach the end of a row, I will tap the foot pedal with my heel and it will cut the thread, lift the needle and lift the presser foot.
It's SUPER fast. 1000 stitches per minute and when I'm straight line quilting, you better believe i'm going at 1000 SPM!
An even huger throat- no more jamming big quilts through. I don't even notice when I'm quilting a queen quilt. And because I quilt all my own quilts rather than sending to a long armer, that's how I (sort of) justify the cost to myself
It just works
So many more lights
Big table which makes quilting a breeze.
In Conclusion
I'm definitely not recommending you upgrade twice in a period of about 8 months- that was a ridiculous move. And i'm definitely not saying you need to get the machine that I got - it's an amazing machine, but I realise how fortunate I am to have been able to afford it.
If you feel you are going to stick with quilting, my recommendation is to future proof your machine and buy the most expensive machine you can afford. Keep an eye out for demo models or ex-displays- you may just find your dream machine at a (sort of) reasonable price :-)