by Charlene N.

Created on: June 30, 2007   Last Updated: July 01, 2007

Just as clothing makes the man, so does the machine make the seamstress. Choosing the right sewing machine is the first, probably the most important step to becoming an accomplished and satisfied sewer.

You can spend anything from $100-$7000 on a sewing machine. The higher priced machines are electronic computerized machines with embroidery options-lots of gimmicks for the crafter, but often much more than you need for basic sewing. Look for the highest quality you can get in your price range, even if it means giving up a few bells and whistles.

Considering this a long-term investment, you should do a thorough research before you purchase your machine. When I was pregnant with our first child, we bought a Pfaff brand machine. It was a trade-in, used only four months, so we got it for nearly half off the original price. Even so, it still cost about $200 more than we'd planned to spend. I made t-shirts, nightshirts, a quilt and bumper pads for the crib and a kangaroo baby carrier. We bought a car seat and crib at a rummage sale for almost nothing. I recovered the car seat and made a new mattress for the crib (I purchased a firm foam rubber pad and covered it with quilted vinyl fabric) and by the time our baby was three months old, the machine had paid for itself. With regular maintenance, it has proven to be a very reliable machine.

Talk to other seamstresses and dealers and try out as many machines as you can. The dealers are familiar with their machine and can make even the most inferior machine look good, so try sewing on it yourself. Bring the fabrics and threads you are most likely to use to test on the machine.

The best information I've gotten is from sewing machine repairmen. It was an independent repairman who showed me how many of today's machines use plastic parts on their motors-even the ones that claim to be all metal. (Since he was independent he had no obligation to prefer one model over another.) If you can find a trustworthy repairman, he will be a good source of information of what to look for to get good quality.

Features that you may want to consider are: a free arm (sewing in sleeves or hemming pants is much easier with a free arm), a walking foot (it feeds top and bottom fabrics evenly, preventing puckering and mismatched stripes), button-holer (the simpler to operate, the better), stretch stitches (a must if you don't have a serger), snap on foot (makes changing the foot a breeze), variable width zigzag and variable stitch length.

Be careful

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