Hi Everyone,
I am going to buy a new sewing machine and am overwhelmed by the variety. I am recently retired teacher who has not had time to sew for the last 15 or 20 years. Previous to that time, I made most of my clothes and my children’s clothes too. I have never quilted and want to learn. I have read the article in the September 2002 issue of Threads but it is outdated by now. I also do not know if I should get an embroidery machine. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Carole
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I recently decided to upgrade from my 30+ year old sewing machine, and decided I wanted an embroidery machine. I spent $3800 and haven't embroidered one single thing. I wish I would have gotten a plain sewing machine and used the left over money to buy a serger instead.
The main reason I haven't embroidered anything is that embroidery cards cost $130 each and I don't care for most of the designs. Also, I haven't been able to afford the software I want which is an additional $1200 at least. There is cheaper, more basic software starting at $800 but I'm only interested in designing my own embroidery, not using someone else's designs.
Unless you know you really want to do a lot of embroidery I don't think it makes sense to buy an embroidery machine.
I absolutely agree with Callie. I recently purchased a new sewing machine, a Brother PC6000, but only after much contemplation over sewing machine versus embroidery machine. What I ended up with I love. It does have a lot of decorative stitches, and does somewhat small monograms. It is loaded with features you would love--automatic threader, automatic scissors, etc. It can be purchased via the internet from a company in New York (Mr. Vac & Mrs. Sew, or something like that) for about $499. GREAT MACHINE, and you can quilt on it. If you are interested, you can read more about it on the Brother website, http://www.brothersews.com
A serger is an excellent idea as well. With the combination of the two machines, I believe you will have all your sewing needs met, and for far less than what an embroidery machine would cost. I recently purchased a new serger also, a White 2000 ATS, but the jury is still out on that one. I am replacing my 17 year old Singer serger because of the features the new sergers offer. Right now the I am waiting for the serger to be delivered. It has a great reputation.
Hope this helps, and enjoy your retirement.
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