Craft: Magazine has been posting lots of sewing machines lately, and that got me thinking about how much I appreciate mine.
Last year for my birthday Andrew wanted to get me a sewing machine. I sold mine when we moved to the East Coast from Salt Lake City. When we moved, we only brought what would fit in the car and what made sense to pack in boxes and ship UPS. Everything else was sold. The heaviest sewing machine in the world went to a good home.
My old sewing machine was from my mother. She bought each of us girls a sewing machine for Christmas around 1991. My favorite feature was what I called the Chicken Stitch. It was probably supposed to be ducks, but it looked like chickens to me.
Andrew took me to Sears, and I was in awe of all the functions and accessories that come with sewing machines. I'd never been shopping for sewing machines and it was really cool to see all the features and accessories you could get.
I finally settled on a mid-range model that was just a tiny step up from the workhorse I had before. Then Andrew said, "Wouldn't you rather have this one?" And he pointed to the nicest one that wasn't an embroidery machine. Of course I would! Oh, he is a sweetie!
It's a Kenmore, and I love it! I could even use a push button to stop and start it, if I didn't want to use the pedal ... or if I lose my legs. There is a speed control that goes from turtle to rabbit. I keep it closer to turtle because I don't want to rabbit my fingers off - it can go pretty fast. The needle always stops in the up position, which is awesome! There is no Chicken Stitch, but there is a great selection of built-in stitches.
The only thing that I've noticed that is weird, is the needle, in the center position, is 1/32nd of an inch to the right of the center mark. Not enough to get freaked about, or to put my patterns off, but it's measurable (I measured it).I ended up calling Sears customer service just now about the needle position (they have 24/7 toll-free customer service). Ivan, the coolest garage door opener and lawn mower specialist ever, went through the sewing machine manual with me. He asked, "What stitch width is the sewing machine set on?" That fixed it! Even if you have the machine set on a straight stitch, changing the width from 0 to 6 moves the needle position 1/32nd to the right. Yay! My machine is perfect again!
They really put a lot of thought into the design of this machine. I think it's a good machine for an experienced sewer or a beginner. And, if you get it from Sears, you also get great customer service.
(p.s. I never would have taken the time to call customer service if I wasn't writing about my sewing machine on my craft blog. Thank you, craft blog, for making me do things I should have done a year ago.)