Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Bad Sewing Machine

After completing my spring wall hanging I was totally excited to do more sewing. One of my goals for this spring/summer was to try out making some clothing for the girls. I've never sewn a garment that was meant to be worn for real, (I've done Halloween outfits) and I thought this year I would give it a go. So I started with the Oliver + S lazy days skirt. Another goal is to finally figure out how to sew in a zipper. Sadly, I won't be accomplishing either of these things in the near future.

About half way through the first skirt my machine stopped working. The thread was breaking before making even one stitch. It did this over, and over, and over again. Likely a problem with the tension disk, but after taking the machine apart I wasn't able to see anything to fix. So I packed it up and put it away.

My husband surprised me with this machine as a gift about 2 years ago. A very generous a and kind gift to be sure. But, him getting me a sewing machine is sort of like me purchasing him a table saw. Neither of us know enough about each others craft to really make an informed purchase.

Aside from it not being the machine I would picked out for myself, I've always had trouble with it. The tension/stitching never worked properly and has given me constant headaches.
After a call to the two local machine repair shops, it seems the cost of maintenance or repair to this one would be at least half the original purchase price - so I'd rather put my money towards a new machine. About a year ago we started a small savings fund to get a new machine, born from the proceeds of my husband selling an underused drill press. The other thing I don't like about this machine is the amount of plastic on it. It just doesn't feel like a sturdy, durable machine.

For now I can borrow my mom's machine to get me through the skirts and another dress I have planned. There is a lot of web research to sort through before I decide on a new machine. There are also a lot of blog posts that discuss this very journey. [If you have a story to share, please let me know and leave a comment - I would love to hear about your experiences and why you use the machine you do!]

So it will probably be awhile until I am up and running again with the sewing. Oh well, there's no better excuse to keep knitting or explore some fun hand sewing.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ooh! Seems I missed this post when it was new. Just wanted to put in a vote for my Bernina. Love, love, love it. A ton. It has features I never even knew existed - like needle up/down and a other thoughtful things. (most newer machines, I've learned have this) I'd be happy to talk your ear off for an hour, singing its praises...