After much thought, research, humming and hawing.... I finally decided on a new sewing machine.
I have been all over the board since March we decided I would buy a new sewing machine. At first I thought I'd buy a new Pfaff embroidery/sewing machine and sell my old one. Well, it turns out these things de-value like mad and I wouldn't get a quarter of what I paid for my older one. So selling my old machine is not likely. I researched just buying a new fancy sewing machine. I love a Pfaff machine because of the even-feed foot and I went to check out the current models. I found the mid-range models far and few between. They either had very entry level machines or very high end ones. I did spend a couple of hours sewing on on the new Pfaff Expression 4.0 at my LQS. I did like this machine, but I found that I had a lot of it's capability in my old Pfaff embroidery machine. I found it was a bit fussier as to what pre-wound and regular bobbins it used. The cost was quite a bit more than I wanted to spend on a regular sewing machine.
So my thoughts went back to a video that I saw that Sharon Schamber did last year. A video on how she does her machine quilting on a domestic. I'm not sure how well known she is, but she's famous to me and I've admired her work for some time now. She has won many many prizes for her free-motion quilting and teaches machine quilting both on a domestic machine and on a longarm. When I saw what she was using, a Juki, I did some research and soon realized, that it's a great machine for 98% of what I do. Piecing, straight stitch sewing, and machine quilting. It turns out that every manufacturer has a model that is a similar high speed straight stitch machine.
I have been all over the board since March we decided I would buy a new sewing machine. At first I thought I'd buy a new Pfaff embroidery/sewing machine and sell my old one. Well, it turns out these things de-value like mad and I wouldn't get a quarter of what I paid for my older one. So selling my old machine is not likely. I researched just buying a new fancy sewing machine. I love a Pfaff machine because of the even-feed foot and I went to check out the current models. I found the mid-range models far and few between. They either had very entry level machines or very high end ones. I did spend a couple of hours sewing on on the new Pfaff Expression 4.0 at my LQS. I did like this machine, but I found that I had a lot of it's capability in my old Pfaff embroidery machine. I found it was a bit fussier as to what pre-wound and regular bobbins it used. The cost was quite a bit more than I wanted to spend on a regular sewing machine.
So my thoughts went back to a video that I saw that Sharon Schamber did last year. A video on how she does her machine quilting on a domestic. I'm not sure how well known she is, but she's famous to me and I've admired her work for some time now. She has won many many prizes for her free-motion quilting and teaches machine quilting both on a domestic machine and on a longarm. When I saw what she was using, a Juki, I did some research and soon realized, that it's a great machine for 98% of what I do. Piecing, straight stitch sewing, and machine quilting. It turns out that every manufacturer has a model that is a similar high speed straight stitch machine. Nobody that I know has one of these type of larger throat machines so I feel like the lone ranger. With the help of this new-to-me local dealer, I felt comfortable with my decision, and I ordered it today.
I'm so excited, I'm now going to re-organize my sewing room in preparation for Juki's arrival next week.
4 comments:
I think you will be very happy. I have a Juki TL-98E and have had it at least 10 years. It's never been serviced and sews like a dream. I also have a Pfaff for my "fancy" sewing. I love both of them!
Wow!! Who sells Juki around here?
I have had mine for about 6 mos . You are going
to love it.
Marilyn
Enjoy the new machine -- the extra throat space should be really nice. I didn't know that Sharon Schambers quilted on a domestic machine -- I though she did all of hers on the longarm.
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