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Buying a Sewing Machine – Read Reviews and Pay Attention to Multiple Reviews about the Same Thing

This is my fifth article on Buying a Sewing Machine. You can check out the others here.

When buying a sewing machine, read reviews and pay attention to multiple reviews about the same thing. I’m sure you’re thinking “really Lynda?” Yes, really!

My Story

First off, this picture is me with my very first Bernina, a second hand 1120.

Let me tell you my story. In 2016 I was in the market to upgrade my sewing machine. I had a modern Pfaff machine that had a poorly designed presser foot lever which was inside the throat or harp space. As a result, when I tried to free motion quilt, I hit that lever many times.

As a result, I headed for the internet and did a lot of Google searches. At the time, I already had a very bad case of Bernina Envy, but I didn’t really have the money to spend on one. I had demoed the Bernina 770QE a couple of times, but it came with a multi thousand dollar price tag.

I ended up settling for the Janome MC8900 instead, which is a decent machine that costs far less than the Bernina I was drooling over. The Janome MC8900 is not a bad machine. It sewed pretty decently, but it couldn’t do one of the most important things I needed it to do, which was sew over quilting intersections without my having to pull the fabric through the machine myself.

When I did my research, I read many positive reviews about all that this machine could do, but I kept seeing reviews about the machine hesitating to sew through quilting intersections. For those of you that don’t quilt, a quilting intersection tends to involve 4 seams coming together. You may be thinking that that is a lot, but it’s not if you’re sewing with 100% quilter’s cotton fabrics which is what many quilters sew with.

As stated above, I saw tons of reviews about this problem, but I put them off to user error, and, was I wrong! Once I brought home my Janome MC8900, I experienced the exact same problem. I literally had to pull the fabric through the machine, often resulting in inconsistent stitches because I was forcing the machine to sew. This can also throw out the timing on your machine requiring a mechanic to fix it. I was so upset with myself for ignoring those bad reviews.

So, what did I do? I gave into my Bernina Envy and used the Janome MC8900 as a trade-in for my Bernina 770QE. For me, Bernina are my machines and I will not sew on anything else.

I am not implying or saying that Janome makes bad machines, because I know they make some amazing machines. However, as a quilter, the MC8900 is not the ideal machine, in my opinion.

Beginner Sewing Machine Suggestions

I realize that I am veering a little off topic here, but if you are looking for a good beginner machine, try Brother or Janome. They make reliable sewing machines, but make sure you buy from a dealer rather than from Amazon or a Big Box Store.

The machines sold on Amazon, Target or Walmart are the lowest of the line and therefore the inexpensive price tag. Often these machines end up taking a trip to your local landfill because they are full of plastic gears and cannot be fixed.

So, buy a decent machine to get you started quilting. If you want to upgrade in the future, that is fine, but make sure you keep your first machine as a backup for when your machine is in the shop. This way you can keep sewing.

I hope this has helped you, and please remember to read reviews. The most helpful reviews are not reviews on the manufacturer’s website as they choose the best, positive reviews only. Look for online machine dealers and check out the machine reviews there. Hopefully, reading reviews will keep you from making the same mistake I did.

I hope you have found this helpful. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to email me here. Thanks for reading.

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