Does anyone else have an old fashioned hand sewing machine as their main machine?

[Juillet]

I ask as I've been despairing about my Singer for ages, and today I looked at some new modern machines, which were fab but very pricey. I was tempted to go for it as mine's been playing up and I hate not having a working sewing machine.

But then I looked on google for my model and saw it was one of the best that singer made, which gave me the confidence to try and sort it out - I rang a shop and asked what they knew, and they basically told me the needle was on backwards

I turned it round and it is working like a dream. I'm so chuffed and have already hemmed some jeans with no problems.

So I was wondering whether any 'proper' sewing ladies out there actually prefer an old mechanical machine, so that I can feel justified in keeping mine and not forking out for a new fangled whatsit.

I have a hand-operated singer in a lovely wooden box, and a slightly more modern (30 years old?) electric Riccar.

to be honest I use the electric one FAR more often. It is faster, neater and goes in reverse too.

If you like it and it works for you, keep it!

I used to have an old hand machine (not a Singer, though) and it was great. I only moved to a more modern one, when my Grandma gave me her old machine - thirty years old rather than a hundred. I must say, I prefer the newer machine for two main reasons: first to have both hands free to guide the fabric under the needle, and second to have a zigzag stitch, which turns out to be really useful for the kind of sewing I do.

But I think it's unlikely that I would have bought one myself, and if I had, I certainly wouldn't have got such a good machine (it may be a little elderly these days, but back in the day it was a top model). If you've got a really good old Singer, you're unlikely to get that kind of quality machine new, even if you pay lots for it. So if you don't need all the things that modern machines offer, stick with what you've got - they don't make them like that anymore.

Thanks for your thoughts. I agree that electric ones can be really really good, although at school I used to get very upset when the machine got carried away and overran what I meant to do - I found them very quick, too quick for anything other than straight lines. I think when I try and make huge curtains I'm going to wish I ahd a leccy one as your hand gets really tired

I think it's like you both say - a good quality machine is going to be good however old it is, and reliability is far more important to me than variety of stitches etc. I also want it to be able to cope with thick fabrics like denim and so on, which mine does at a push - I had to go slow and a stitch at a time over the seam bumps, but otherwise it was fine. I'd be scared of breaking an electric iyswim.

Maybe one day when I find a rich husband I can get a posh electric one.

Get a second hand one!

Oh gawd, that's a really scary thought for me - considering the number of second hand hand ones I've got in charity shops that didn't work - this one is the only one that does, and thatw as a complete fluke.

It's a 201K and was one of several abandoned by an art college near here when they upgraded. So it was regularly serviced and so on.

I wouldn't know where to look or how to test a second hand electric...but if you know what you're doing that's a good way to get one.

You get yourself to a sewing shop and ask there. Thats where I got mine. Get it already serviced.

Or ask around any older friends/aquaintainces if they know of one going begging.

i have had no problems with my janome memory craft 9000 that i bought on ebay for 400pounds. its very high tech and works very well. i get it serviced regularly by a very good and cheap company in Luton.