Choosing a Sewing Machine

[miss_s_b]

Amazingly, I have a refund to come from the utility company, and will actually have a little bit of money to play with soon. This means I also have some decisions to make. As I mentioned in the previous post, my current machine is bloody awful. Specifically, it is this one, which my mum bought new for twenty pounds. It doesn't like any thickness of fabric beyond a couple of layers of standard cotton, but the foot doesn't actually press down hard enough if the fabric is thin enough for it to sew; the tension adjustment is totally bizarre - it's either way too loose, or thread-snappingly tight with nothing in between... Yeah, I could go on, but you get the picture.

If I scrimp and scrape, and including the nice fat refund I have coming, I might be able to run to 350-400 pounds for a machine. That's going to give me quite a lot of choice. So, I have a couple of questions. I'm planning on doing a reasonable amount with clothes, simple stuff to begin with, but I'll probably want to at least be able to do denim, which apparently most cheaper machines can't deal with. I'd also like to be able to (for example) run up a pair of curtains without having to sit hand sewing them for a full day. I really am not interested in embroidery functions. With those points in mind:

1. Am I better off going for a semi-industrial machine with less stitches but more power, or will I really miss things like automatic buttonholes?


2. Would I be better using all the money for one machine, or splitting it and getting a reasonable machine and a cheap overlocker (serger)? Or even JUST getting a good overlocker?


3. What brands should I look at? And which ones should I really avoid? (for instance, I have heard good things about Husqvarna/Viking - which are the ones they have at my class - Janome, Bernina, and old Singers; and bad things about Brother, modern Singer, Toyota and I have experience of the crapness of Hyundai. But what about Pfaff? Or other brands?


4. What are the code words, for want of a better term, that I should look for that will tell me this machine can do denim or this machine can only handle light fabrics?


5. Given the issues that seem to surround tension, is it worth looking at a machine with automatic tension?

Thanks for all your patience with me as a novice :)

Comments

[teapot_rabbit]

I have a Husqvarna Viking 320, which I adore. I've had it for around tean years now, and it's still going strong.

Any decent machine should be able to sew through denim, and I have never heard of code words. I second the suggestion made above, to bring a scrap of fabric to the sewing machine shop, if you're really concerned. Most places have test models, and in my experience, are happy to talk to you about different machines. :)

In my experience, you really don't need a machine with a million fancy stitches. You certainly don't want to buy an embroidery machine unless you really want to do machine embroidery - they're different creatures. You'll probably use the straight stitch 90% of the time anyway. As for stretchy materials (think knit fabrics like cotton jersey and the like) some machines have a stretch stitch, which is stronger and won't snap when stretched. I use mine very, very rarely. a zig-zag stitch is good to have, and machine buttonholes are nice but not essential.

Sergers/overlock machines are different beasts entirely. They're really useful for things like finishing raw edges of seams (something which you can use a zig-zag stitch for) but they're not really a replacement for a normal sewing machine. There's some things they just can't do, and their stitch isn't usually strong enough to function as a seam on its own.

I don't like automatic tension, but that's just a personal thing. Tension isn't actually that bad, on most machines - a little trial and error on some scrap fabric, and you should start getting a feel for it.

have fun, and good luck! :)