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Bit of a bump here for a specific buying question. I'm just learning the ropes at a local sewing room, so I'd like to buy a machine. I'm bucking the "try not to buy your first machine" / "try to buy thrift" advice because I'm at a point in my life where I'm okay with throwing a bit of money at the equipment question to avoid the time spent having to look around (which does not sound fun to me). Use case, besides the usual light duty sewing that I'd imagine most things can handle, are denim stuff and stuffed animals for the kiddo - which means thicker fabrics. I'd like to know I can sew faux fur (which I think more a matter of presser foot clearance than machine power?). At any rate, the Brother ST371HD ($190 on Amazon) was going to be my choice, but my local shop has a Juki 353z for $150, which seems like a nice price if it does what I'd like it to. It seems like Brother as a brand has a bit of baggage attached? Not as much as Singer, whose heavy duty $200 I see equal parts recommended and reviled. My teacher, FWIW, didn't give very specific recommendations, just saying whatever I buy in the $200-300 range is probably fine.
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Feb 9, 2024 22:36
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 20:09 |
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effika posted:Didn't see the Brother or that Juki listed on the PatternReview sewing machine reviews section, so I did some forums sleuthing there for you. Thank you so much for doing some work for me! I really appreciate it (and any time you spend on my subsequent questions, haha). I appreciate hearing more negative anecdotes about that Singer. Honestly, that's the sort of nonsense I'd like to avoid. Feels like the sort of thing people are referencing when they shake their head and lament the company going downhill. Man, I hate that there's nothing out there on the Juki. Any machine I buy at this price point is going to have some failings, I'd like to know what they are, haha. I feel comfortable jumping to those Brother computerized machines, but I'm not about going to $500. It's the difference between an extra $40 or so and doubling the price of the machine. So, looking between these 3 Brother models. I assume "strong and tough" is a bit of a marketing gimmick, and that it isn't particularly more capable than the upgrade picks for things like layers of denim? Anything at this level should be fine for it? Similarly, sewing thick fabrics. Like I said, it's important to me to have the option of sewing fur, which can be bulky. I've seen on several machines the ability to lift the presser further than it normally rests in the "up" position - the manual for the CS7000X actually has a small section about "sewing thick fabrics" that mentions it, while the XR9550 does not. That being said, I could believe this is just a standard feature that doesn't really get mentioned. In terms of choosing between the upgrade picks, I'm sure something is different but Brother's website sucks rear end and their comparison tool breaks a lot. That being said, I see the CS7000X includes more presser feet, including a walker foot, which seems like it could come in handy, for a $10 increase. They also both have hardshell cases included, which is sort of nice over the ST, haha. None of the machines in question have adjustable presser foot pressure, from what I can tell, which is a bummer but also tells me it might not be quite as mission critical? I'm not married to the brands in question, by the by; if you have any recommendations at roughly that price point, I'd love to hear them!
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Feb 11, 2024 23:08
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Thank you for that extra context. There isn't a huge hurry here, I'm just experiencing some enthusiasm for a potential new thing and want to ride that a bit. Don't want to get too bogged down in analysis paralysis.  At any rate, there's enough here to be making a decision if I just go with a newer machine, and I'll have the understanding that I'll either outgrow it or it'll just fuckin break on me.I think the sewing room where I'm taking lessons has some used machines too. Couldn't hurt to ask about their suitability. I'm sure i'll be back. Thanks again!
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Feb 12, 2024 02:38
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An update! Thanks to effika's advice, I ended up going with the cs7000x, which has been really solid for me. The only time it's struggled is when I was trying to sew through, uhh...8 layers of cotton and 4 layers of interfacing. I made a bucket hat for my kid, then got a bit hung up on this tote bag pattern. Made a couple for gifts (and screwing them up lol) before doing a supersized one that I also screwed up but it wasn't in the construction, so I'm very proud of it.     Also, hanging out at a quilting store with an infant strapped to chest is an excellent way to get people to have conversations started with you. I suspect the fact that i'm a dude only multiplies the effect.
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Apr 3, 2024 12:13
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Okay I'm working on my first project off a proper commercial pattern, and the...let's call them concise instructions are causing me some confusion. And there are some other complications / new things for me (I've never worked with batting). So, I have some questions that I'm sure are very basic but I'd love to make sure I'm doing it right before putting stitches down. Here are the instructions in relevant part. It's a shopping cart seat cover for baby, by the way.  1) When it tells me to "apply" the batting does that simply mean stitching the batting directly to the fabric? I would guess yes, but the fact that they specifically don't use the verb "stitch" confused me a bit. I have slight concerns about it catching on the feed dogs or the presser foot or something, but that's just in my imagination; I have no idea what's actually going to happen when I run the piece through. 2) I feel like this is something that could benefit from some quilting - if I do a basic diamond quilt with just the cotton and the batting, would that...work? I assume if the answer to 1 is yes, then the answer to this is also yes, but I'd like to make sure. I'd have to do this before the "to form corners of seat" in step 1, right? Otherwise I'd have a boxy shape that I can't imagine running through my machine properly.  3) There are stitching lines on the pattern to make the opening. How do I mark these on the fabric? Even if I had a tracing wheel (I don't, but could run up to my local quilting shop to get one, obviously), wouldn't that only transfer to one layer of fabric? Or would it mark through the folded fabric? I've never used one before. Relatedly, if I don't have a tracing wheel, is there a way to transfer that that's non-destructive to the pattern? My tentative plan is just to measure and mark with chalk, which shouldn't be too bad; it's just a rectangle, and it doesn't need to be super precise anyway. But I'm curious if there's a "proper" way to go about this. Boxman fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Apr 4, 2024 |
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Apr 4, 2024 23:42
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It's actually a Simplicity pattern. Old, though - I got it from my local sewing room, which operates as a non-profit. Someone donated this thing.  effika posted:There's a thing called "fusible fleece" that they may think you'll use, and if the batting doesn't get sandwiched in between two pieces of fabric they probably assumed you're using that. Hm. Well, the pattern just calls for "batting," and it only had me cut two of the seat pieces. One of which has the batting "applied" to it, and the other gets sewn to that in step 2 before being turned. If i just sew it all together, I'd have raw edges everywhere, right? The turning is a necessary step. Maybe I'll just go and buy a yard of fusible fleece lol. but wait, wouldn't that have the same problem, since I'd need to stitch it without a layer of cotton to do the quilting/making it 3D? EDIT: Thank you for your help, by the way. Let me know if more pictures of anything would help.
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Apr 5, 2024 01:08
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 20:09 |
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I forgot to update the thread! I finished that seat cover:   At the end of the day, I chickened out on quilting the thing - It felt like a bigger job than it probably was, and if something went wrong I didn't want the ability to blame it on adding extra steps to the instructions. Mistakes were made - you can see where I didn't use enough pins and caught some of the seat in the topstitching, which I had to rip out. Oops! I'm also not 100% sure I did it right. There's that raw edge that's visible that...doesn't feel right for a commercial pattern, and I had to modify the instructions to get the casing to be right side out when I actually use it. All that being said, I have made a functional thing, so I'm happy with it. Maybe what I'm proudest of is this:  I couldn't quite imagine how turning it worked, and some of the instructions confused me on where to stitch, so I made this tiny mockup out of scraps and basting stitches. It took me all of 15 minutes and (other than the fact that I sewed the corners inside out) ended up being a great little representation of the finished product. Making a prototype version felt like a creative solution to the "what the gently caress am I doing here" problem, and I'm pleased I thought of it and was able to do it. EDIT: I also made one more tote bag to bring the kid's bottles into day care every day, where it has drawn complements. This makes me very proud. Boxman fucked around with this message at 12:42 on Apr 15, 2024 |
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Apr 15, 2024 12:39
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