My Singer Confidence Quilter sewing machine stopped working back at the beginning of the Pandemic. Early April-ish maybe? My husband is computer/copier/misc office equipment repair guy and was will to give a try at fixing it, so we bought the repair manual (that took a couple weeks to come) and he spent a week or so trying to get it working. When we failed in our attempts, I took it to a local sew and vac repair shop. They worked on it for a couple weeks as well. While in the end they didn’t get it running either – decided the motherboard was shot and the cost to repair would have been more than the machine was worth – they were great and I know where I’m going for any future problems.
So, I was on the hunt for a new sewing machine at a time when the whole world was unusually into sewing. Most stores were closed, and the ones that were open were out of stock for anything in my price range. And if they had something in stock, I wouldn’t be able to go in and try it out. All I had to go by was online reviews and advice from friends. While a couple hundred bucks might not be much in the grand scheme of sewing machines, this was a big purchase for me. I sew a lot, and I need a reliable well running machine.
I had my choices narrowed down to 3 machines in my price range that came in a package with the accessories I used a lot so didn’t want to have to hunt down and buy separately: a free motion quilting foot, and an extended table to fit bigger projects on (for me that’s quilts). They were a Jenome, the newer version of my Singer Quilter, and a Brother machine. I had alerts on the various websites that had the packages I wanted to alert me when they were in stock. In the meanwhile my mother-in-law loaned me her machine, but it just wasn’t one that brought me joy. I don’t remember the brand – it was something I’d never heard of. But sewing on it made me nervous again about buying something without trying it.
Then after maybe a month, a machine became available. The Brother, and let me tell you, I could not be happier with it so far. I’ve made a quilted fleece pad for our guinea pig cage, repaired a couple of masks, and started on a baby quilt for a coworker. It DOES bring me joy to sew on. That guinea pig fleece was thick with multiple layers of fleece and batting and it went through all that like butter. A dream I tell you! I’m so excited to be sewing again.
Karabu Creations 