Singer sewing machine

[andralynaa]

Hi,

I'm new here and new to quilting. We recently got some money we were not expecting and I'm considering spending some on a new sewing machine, but my budget is small. I currently have a singer that's quite old, mostly plastic, and very basic. I only have a few hundred dollars to spend and I saw this machine at Joanns

Singer Patchwork Sewing Quilting Machine

Does anyone have an experience with this type of machine? Would it work for quilting as well as general sewing - like clothes and things like that? It seems to have a lot of stitches and it comes with the quilting feet - FMQ and walking foot.

Any general advice for features (especially for FMQ) on a small budget? Any general advice on the best brands to look at?

Thanks so much for your help. I'm loving learning how to quilt and Jenny's tutorials and of course the daily deal!

[Jean Sewing Machine]

Look at the Singer One or the One plus. I love mine! The Singer One can be found for $249 on sale at Joanns or Amazon. The One Plus is $399. The One is the exact same mechanical machine as the Singer 160 anniversary, which I also have, it is just a different color. I've made very many quilt tos, totes, fabric bowls on these machines, they take on heavy or light fabrics with ease, and have a very nice straight stitch for quilting. The One is so simple to use, my 8 year old granddaughter can sit down and sew on it without much supervsion, she just takes some scraps and creates something cute, and is very successful doing it! It doesn't have many bells or whistles (the One Plus does!) but it is great for a basic machine.

[HandsomeRyan]

Machine looks fine. If you'll be using it for quilting you might also budget for a walking foot and any other specialty feet that it doesn't come with which you might like to have. Also do not forget to budget for lots of thread and fabric too. Once you get a new machine you;ll want to do a lot more projects!

[coffeebreak]

I don't know about that one but my Singer 9960 Quantum Stylist....unless you like to constantly be threading and re-threading....dont buy one! It sews all fine, but the threading feature... nothing but headache after headache...and it doesn't even tell you when the bobbin is getting low or when it runs out! I have often literally sewn the entire side of a quilt or FMQ'd a large area only to stop and find....no bobbin thread! And to wind a bobbin, you have to unthread the whole machine. I do recommend a darning/embroidery foot for FMQ tho. It's what I use and have no problem with it. I don't seem to do "well" with a walking foot...don't know why

[ozziepuppy]

Might consider one of the very basic Janome machines. You might have a good local dealer or you could check amazon for the machines with good reviews. Good luck!

[andralynaa]

Thanks for the thoughts! I'll check out your suggestions.

[auntiemern]

Different name, but looks exactly like the two Singers I took back. I thought the first one might have just been a bad one, but after the second one, I said no more. I love my Brother Innovis, but they do make more entry level machines. I would check them out.

[pcrihfield]

I was going to buy the Singer Patchwork sewing machine last Christmas at Joann's, but after researching it thoroughly I found out it didn't have drop down feed dogs. Which I wanted to learn Free Motion Quilting. So, I went with the Singer Confidence 7469. Which I loved the features on. Unfortunately, that machine had problems from the get go and I never returned it to the store. So was stuck with a lemon, in my opinion. I went and bought a Janome DC5100, which was a great little machine and figured out quickly I needed a bigger throat to do quilting. This fall I went and bought the Janome 6600 with a 9 inch throat, love it. I finally found a Singer dealer that worked on Singer sewing machines and took the Singer 7469 to him to check out and he fixed it and it runs better than it ever did. In my opinion, buy from a dealer that sells Singer sewing machines. They will check out the machine
before you take it home.

Phyllis

[buckeyequilter]

I've had a couple of Singer machines....one manual and the other electronic and had nothing but problems with them. The electronic one I ordered and ended up sending it back.

My preference is Brother machines. But my suggestion is to look around, read reviews, try them out (if possible) and get the best machine that you can afford.

[HandsomeRyan]

Any general advice for features (especially for FMQ) on a small budget? Any general advice on the best brands to look at?

• Get the biggest throat you can. The throat is the distance between the body of the machine and the needle. As you quilt, you'll have a lot of fabric to shove over there and a bigger throat makes things a lot easier!

•As far as brands, there will always be people who will say "this brand is garbage" or "that brand is the best" but in reality all the manufacturers have had good products and lemons. I have a cheap brother machine which has been ridden hard and put away wet and continues to sew pretty well. I have a Husqvarna Viking machine that literally cost more than a car I once owned and while it is quite nice, everything for it is more expensive (for example feet for my Brother machine are $8-$12, feet for my HV are $30+ each)

• They love to advertise the # of stitches each machine is capable of but how many stitches do you really use? If a machine with 250 stitches is X amount and a machine with 500 is twice that amount, are you really going to use those other 250 stitches enough to justify doubling the price of the machine? I'm not even sure how many stitches my nicer machine does but I can tell you I use about a dozen of them and ignore the rest.

• Are you doing things other than quilting? If you make (or hope to make) other things like garmets and craft project you might pay attention to things like how easy is the button hole function? My little machine has the most difficult and frustrating button holer in the world whereas my nicer machine as amazing buttonhole functionality.

• Budget for accessories. I like a walking foot for straight line quilting and these range from $20 to well over $100 depending on your machine. Also there are different piecing feet to try, SITD feet, extra bobbins, etc. Make sure you don't get so blinded by the machine price that you forget what it will take to purchase a full setup you'll be happy with.

• You can't buy your way into sewing skill. A skilled quilter can make beautiful quilts on an inexpensive machine and someone who lacks skills won't be any better just because they sit behind an $8,000 machine. Be reasonable about what level you are sewing at and don't try to buy your way into sewing skill because that can only be earned through hours of sittign behind whatever machine you have.

• Needle down. My little machine does not have it, my bigger machine does. I use it all the time and I love it. Almost any computerized machine should offer a needle down setting.