Sewing Master Class: Lesson 1 Choosing your Machine

Guys, it’s finally here. My sewing master class! First, welcome. I’m so excited you are here and want to learn to sew. Sewing has really changed my life. It has lead me to self empowerment, building a community with fellow creatives and of course, a little wee bit of frustration. Learning to sew can be easy. It’s an important skill that I’m afraid is dying for the modern girl. My aim for this course is to inspire you to learn about sewing. I want to create a place that you can chat with each other and inspire your friends to learn a new skill. Clearly, i’m very excited about this class, so without further i do I give you the first installment, choosing you machine. The entire book will be available for download in the upcoming weeks.

CHAPTER 1:

Choosing your Sewing Machine

When buying in your first sewing machine, invest in reliability. It’s important to get a machine that is easy for you to understand and also easy to fix if needed. This is why I would consider brand name products with good consumer reviews. I still use the same singer I bought for under $200 as my primary machine. It still works great, many yards and years later. Here’s why:

Brand Name  There are a lot of sewing machines to choose from. I recommend buying a name brand for your first machine; Singer, Brother, and Janome. These are tried & true brands that have affordable price points. These are brands that are familiar to your mother, and the reason is because they consistently sell products that are user friendly and reliable. There are a lot off-brand sewing machines that you

Ease to Fix This is another point advocating for buying brand name. Buying better quality means your machine is going to last longer and break less. (I’ve had my machine 6 years and it hasn’t broken yet!). If your machine ever needs a trip to the sewing doctor, local shops are going to know there way around a familiar machine. Parts and labor will be less expensive for a repair.

Your needs as a sewer Modern machines boast a lot of bonus features. I’m here to tell you as a beginner, you will probably never use them.  Consider your goals as a seamstress. Do you want to make clothing, quilting, or just alter your wardrobe? My machine has 90 stitches and I probably use 5. Consider the size, weight and your sewing space. One modern marvel I have is a needle threader. This is a common helpful bonus that saves me a lot of time.

Use your resources: online reviews, local sewing stores, and friends. When choosing my first machine, I used first-hand accounts. Many amazon reviews include why the person didn’t like the machine – was it not user friendly? Does the machine have a common defect? I also used the first-hand accounts of the bloggers and You-tubers I learned from. What did they use? What brands did they trust? If you have friends that sew, I promise they will have an opinion. Use your beautiful community of creatives to find the create a list of pros/cons to find the right match.