After you visited a friend who loves to sew or because you remember your grandmother and your mother spending long hours making and mending, you’ve decided to give the sewing hobby a try! Choosing a unit for your projects with all the features you will need may look not an easy task to do, today I’m sharing some good Tips For Buying Your First Sewing Machine that will last for many years in the sewing room helping you to make many projects!
Tips For Buying Your First Sewing Machine
Choosing your first sewing machine is the first step to make, but before you hurry to the store and get the first one you see, it’s important to take a moment to answer these questions.
What will you be making?
Taking the time to think about what you want to make with a sewing machine will save you a few headaches and disappointments.
One machine has a few features while another machine will have some different features, one can help you to sew small projects while the other will be perfect to make big sewing projects or will be the one to work with different kind of fabrics.
Small Projects And Mending
If you’re planning to make small projects or mending or hemming your own and family clothing, you need to look for a free arm machine, as it will allow you to work with no problem at all with legs or sleeves around the sewing area.
This machine needs to have the feature of blind hemming stitch and foot, you’ll love to work with it while mending a hem on any piece of clothing.
This will be an inexpensive machine, but it won’t work the greatest at the time to work with denim or other kind of heavy fabrics, the same will happen if you want to work with thin fabrics.
Home Decor Projects to Make.
If you dream of making all kinds of things to decorate your home such as curtains, throw pillows, and seat cushions, search for a machine that can work fine with thicker fabrics or with a few layers of fabric at the same time.
Dreaming of Making Your Own Garments.
Search for a sewing machine with a few already features as:
- Straight stitch
- Zig-zag stitch
- Strech stitch
- Automatic buttonhole
- The ability to change the needle position
Most of the machine’s comes already with the feature of the back stitch, it will help to lock up the stitches so they come apart.
More Things To Consider
Is the machine noisy.
Think about the time you’ll be spending working with it and where and when will you be using it?
Not all the machine’s are made the same, some will make some noise and some are so quiet to work with.
Will you be watching TV or listening to some music while sewing or will you be in a quiet place?
How heavy is the machine?
Are you going to work in the same place all the time or are you attending to a sewing class or workshop?
Is the machine easy to set up or it will take a few minutes to get it ready to work?
Some machine’s are lighter and this may indicate they are made with plastic parts and they won’t last long.
Other machine’s are heavier, by this you’ll know they are made with metal parts and they can last longer.
You need to know if you’ll be carrying it around your house or attending to a class.
How Many Different Features does it have?
Look for one machine that has everything you need and that it comes with some extra bonus as:
- Zipper foot
- Automatic buttonhole foot
- Blind hemming foot
- Quilting foot
- Extra bobbins
Non-standard Options
Some new machine’s are made to please any sewing fan, look for some of these options:
- Needle threader
- Good lighting
- Needle up/down
- Free arm
- Speed control
- Automatic buttonhole
- Some different stitches build in
How Much Money Can You Spend?
With so many options of good sewing machine’s in the market today, finding a good machine can cost in a wide range of price, from $ 300 to $ 5000. But there’s many options to find the right one for you.
Buying a new machine.
- Start by visiting the Sewing Machine Local Stores and spend some time talking with the owner or the person in charge and let them know about your ideas to work with it. He/she will give you the best advice and will show you a few machine’s to consider and even to see how they work or even to try
- When you buy a machine from a dealer, many times you can get a free class to learn how to work with your new machine.
- You can get your machine at the local big box store in your area, but you can’t find many machine’s where to choose one for you, machine’s here are low in price but mostly they won’t last in time if you’re planning to work a lot with it.
Buying a second hand machine.
If your budget is low, you might want to consider to buy a second hand machine. Think that if you’re not sure whether you’ll like this new hobby or not, don’t put too much money on it until you’re sure you’ll love to work with it.
- Take your time to shop, visit some local thrift shops and online sellers, you can find some good deals around.
- When visiting local dealers ask them if they have a good deal on demos machine’s.
- Ask the dealer if they offer repairs and cleaning services before making a purchase.
- Be sure the machine is in good working order before buying it.
Note: Many second hand machine’s have not been working for a long time, be sure before you use it to clean it and to give it a service.
Closing.
In time your new sewing machine will become your best friend.
You’ll be spending longs hours working with it and creating the most amazing sewing projects on it.
Before you buy any, take your time to visit some local dealers in your area and if they allow you try a few different machine’s. You can always visit a friend who is already a fan of this hobby, ask her/him to let you try the sewing machine, or at least to see how they work with it. (many people don’t like other people to use it, owning a sewing machine is like owning something delicate and treasure for their owners, understand them if they say not to touch their machine but take a look on how they work with it)
You can read Best Sewing Machine For Beginners
When you get your new machine at home, enjoy it!
Take your time to learn how it works, and make some sewing with it to try different types of fabrics and different features on it.
I’m sure you’ll love it and you’ll get better and better at it every time you use it!
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