Crafty MN-ers, please tell me about your sewing machines *begs*

[TheWombat]

I would love to know what your machine is like and how you rate it. :)

I love to knit and would love to back a couple of my knitted blankets with fleece or brushed cotton, so I am thinking about getting a sewing machine for my Christmas present. I can PM you with a link to my blog if you'd like to see the blankets I mean. In my dreams I'd also use it for other simple projects.

However, I'm a sewing novice so not quite sure what to look for, and the John Lewis site is confusing me also I get distracted by the shoes. Is your machine easy to use, and can it cope with stretchy and/or thickish fabric? If you have any other thoughts and/or recommendations I'd be so grateful.

Thank you

Thewombat I hope you don't mind me joining your thread, only I seem to be in the same position as you in looking for a sewing machine for my Christmas present.

I'm also looking at the janome XL 601, janome 5000q and the janome DC3050 from JL. Have you made a decision as to which you will get? I have to add I did try the brother innov-10 in an independent shop, which seems easy enough, but I'm worried it will be outgrown too quickly.

Any feedback from anyone on any of the above would be greatly received. I'm looking to do crafting with my daughters and am optimistically hoping to make a playmat for their sylvanian families to start and then hope to progress onto quilting at a later stage.

thehamburglar I must say that neither the Janome or the Brother I tried seemed mahoosively noisy. As I'm a newbie I had the machines on the slowest setting and didn't venture above snail pace. I have no idea how either of them would fare at a faster speed. Sorry for not being very helpful!

Rockinhippy I would like to look at re-conditioned ones. Unfortunately all the re-cons in my local shop (and on the internet that I can find) are still out of my price range by some way - £500 upwards :( I definitely can't stretch to that, but I am continuing to check out eBay and other second hand places.

Looks like I will be getting the Janome - I am getting very excited about a potential new hobby (and money pit) now

REALLY!!

Have you looked in your Thomson Local or Yellow pages ?? - we have machine shops in town, they are more expensive with re-cons, though not £500 - though do have some industrials at that sort of price - but I found far better & much cheaper shops with better choice out of town, so it might be worth you checking - though the Janone sounds great for you & they are decent machines :)

good luck

If you really want the Janome XL601, I'd recommend ordering it from these guys. Sewing Machines Direct. I have no connection with them, but did research the market a fair amount before buying my machine from them. The company has a good reputation on several sewing forums and although it's the same price as your link, they throw in some extras that will probably be worth it for you. Enjoy!

I've just spoken to someone on the sewing machine discount shop and they advised that the 5000q janome is 'by far the better machine' when I asked for a comparison on the 5000q and the XL601. It might be worth a phone call first to ask some more about it.

Please be wary of The Sewing Machine Discount Shop!

If you check the company number at Companies House the actual company name is Coopers Sewing Machines Limited. They were featured on Watchdog a while back:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mg74/features/rogue-traders-coopers-sewing

LOL I double checked that when AndiMac suggested that link wondering if that was their new name

The link that TheWombat gave is from Sewing Machine Discount Shop. My link is from Sewing Machines Direct, which despite the similar name, is a very different company!

Ooh, thanks for pointing that out :). I had a look at your link hamburglar, it is shocking . The only janome 5000q I can find is via the sewing machine discount shop, but looking at your advice, this outfit really don't seem too customer friendly. What a shame.

Lots of machines are branded under other names. I know the one I ended up with was almost identical to one John Lewis was selling, but it had been rebranded for SMDirect under a different name. Might be worth looking at the features of a few machines to see if they match up.

Another vote for Sewing Machines Direct; I ordered my new machine at 3pm and it was delivered the next morning, along with a huge pack of free threads, scissors etc.

TheWombat I got the Brother machine you mentioned...I'm a complete beginner but so far so good, it seems really easy to use. and it's pink

I am also a beginner and bought from Sewing Machines Direct based on them being recommended on another forum. They were really helpful and I bought a SMD3000 which is their 'own brand' version of the Janome 3050 (I think) and pretty much comparable. They were great to deal with and I ended up buying a quilting set at the same time and they also sent me a lot of thread and a number of pairs of scissors as part of their deal.
I bought this machine as whilst it is well above my ability I thought i could hopefully grow into it.

For that amount of money you would be better with a vintage (before 1970 on the most part) machine. You will get much better value for your money and end up with a much more solid machine that is more likely to last longer.

I have a lovely Pfaff 1475 CD which I bought when I first started work around 20 years ago.

I had a 1471 that I bought from an estate sale that needed major repairs but ended up an absolutely AWESOME machine. My friend begged me to let her buy it so she ended up with it. Another fantastic vintage machine are the Singer slant-o-matic "Rocketeer". I have one of those now (I still prefer the 1471, but the rocketeer can sew through rocks, it is solid and there isn't a whole lot that can break on it because it is (metal) gear driven. I had a pfaff 1222 before the 1471 which was also wonderful, but I sold her (for a profit!) to pay for the repairs on the 1471.

My main machine is a Viking Designer 1, which is ageing but fantastic darling. It is out of your budget though.

I also have a Viking 6000 series that we are restoring. They are also a really nice vintage machine that sews nicely.

DS has an Elna Lotus that was also in your price range. It is a 3/4 size machine and packs up in its own case and is very easily transportable. It took me a while to find the right one for him.

I would not get an overlocker with your budget. It does not work as a standalone sewing machine, only a supplement. It is true that I use mine more than my sewing machine, but if I only had one I would not pick an overlocker.

If you are interested in vintage, there are certain things on each machine which are known to need replacement. There are yahoo groups dedicated to each type of machine that have lots of info about them, once you have figured out what you want check them out before buying so you know what might know what repairs are likely.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-ELNA-LOTUS-SP-ELECTRIC-PORTABLE-SEWING-MACHINE-SERVICED-TESTED-/160928965453?pt=UK_CraftsCollect_SewingMachines_RL&hash=item25781d234d

need to ask if it works.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Antique-Pfaff-Creative-1471-Sewing-Maching-Package-/170949018597?pt=UK_CraftsCollect_SewingMachines_RL&hash=item27cd5b03e5

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PFAFF-Creative-1471-Sewing-Machine-GOOD-CONDITION-/251193660014?pt=UK_CraftsCollect_SewingMachines_RL&hash=item3a7c4f126e

Not vintage, but older and a very lovely machine (I owned one for a short amount of time) and it sounds like this one is in good condition

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Husqvarna-Viking-Rose-Embroidery-Machine-Extras-/271113816389?pt=UK_CraftsCollect_SewingMachines_RL&hash=item3f1fa48945

LMK if you want me to look for more.

Hi, I have the brother you're looking at. I did get it as a back up machine but its the one I use most of the time now. I do mainly dressmaking and its handled every fabric I've flung at it - chiffon, heavy brocades, velvet, silks and satins, stretcy stuff. The buttonholes are good as well. Plus it takes a ruffler foot or walking foot with no faffing. Its good machine - I have 4 machines and this is the one I use most often.

Amd its quiet, I can use this in the dining room - two kids in bed upstairs and its open plan - with the bedroom door closed they can't even hear it!

I have an ancient (60's?) Jones sewing machine. It's clunky, noisy, a PITA to thread but I love it. I suspect it's going to struggle when I start quilting with it though

I'm going to go against the grain here but is it worth spending so much on a machine you are going to use infrequently?

I love, love, love my sewing machine. It sews through anything, has loads of different stitching. I use it to sew clothes, gym leotards, cushions, bags, dolls clothes etc etc. It gets used so much and has been overworked for about 5 years and it hasn't given me a moments bother. I use it about twice to three times a week and actually use all settings and stitching.

Its a machine from lidl and it cost me £40. I thought it was so cheap that if got the hang of sewing again I could always upgrade to a more robust specimen. Now, I think it'll just keep going forever, however much abuse I throw at it.

I was gonna say i got my janome from a sewing shop in town and got the basic £100 model and it's great! It has all the straight and zigzag stitches plus a few fancy stitches which is more than enough for dressmaking, plus the good thing about getting it from a local sewing shop is that you can take it in anytime if there's any problems or questions. Plus you're supporting a local business. I must do a little boast though i seem to own the oldest sewing machine here. A circa 1900 singer machine that is the most ornate and beautiful thing i've ever owned

I bought my machine from Sewing Machines Direct and they were great.
Next day delivery and when I emailed a query (which was actually me being spectacularly incompetant) the emailed a rely at once and this was on a Sunday

Our oldest is DS#2's machine which is a 1930s Singer so you have us beat!