Thursday, March 22, 2007

Sewing Machines I own!

I will take Suzette's suggestions and blog to you about my sewing machines. The first sewing machine I ever owned was given to me by my grandmother around 1989. It's a Remington bought in 1959. Would you believe my mom still has the invoice? My grandmother was an individual that kept a record of everything. At the time, it was the state of the art sewing machine. I do not have a picture of it as it is stored in a cabinet where the machine is almost upside down. A newer machine now sits on that cabinet.

After taking a machine quilting class in 1996 at the Quiltsmith in Shelbourne, Vermont, I realized that I needed a more versatile machine. At that time, I had been taught to tie my quilts or hand quilt them. Machine quilting gave me another option that was much quicker than hand quilting. In Spring 1997, I went shopping and bought my first Bernina. I love my Bernina 1090 and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I still do the bulk of my quilting on it. It's the machine that sits on this beautiful sewing cabinet that my husband custom made for me. I made the mistake of having him modify the machine bed to fit my 180E. Big mistake, now my 1090 moves when I use the free hand system. Oh well, he should be making a cabinet for my 180 so I'll get him to fix it! ;o)

While working for a quilt shop that was a Bernina dealer, I fell in love with the 180E. What I liked was the ability to increase designs and have it stitched on the quilt borders. Our Bernina expert, Gayle, had a sample of the many talents of the 180E. At the time it had not occurred to me that my inability to machine quilt designs on the borders was due to my lack of self confidence. Ironically, I never used the 180E for machine quilting and have barely pushed it's embroidery limits. I have recently started using it for piecing quilts. The High Tech Tuck was done on the 180E and it's the machine I brought to class. I keep my 1090 for machine quilting and now the 180E for piecing. I will say that it is sweet to have two machines available. I don't have to remove a project from one machine in order to sew something quick.

The embroidery module on the 180 (not pictured) has not had much use. I recently bought the Bernina Designer Plus V5 software thinking it would facilitate my quilt label creativity, but even that hasn't been exploited. It's not an easy software to work with. Well, it doesn't do what I want it to do! I need to read the manual, which is over 600 pages. It is not the best designed manual I have ever looked at either. I have thought of trading my 180E, not sure it would be worth trading, for the 730. The interface is much more user friendly and in color. Financially, it doesn't make sense to spend so much money on a computerized machine that becomes "out dated" in a few years. Doing the math, I realized that the software was much cheaper than the 730. Besides, the 180E does everything the 730 does but not as fast. I was told that with the software my 180E becomes the printer.

When you think about it, it's ridiculous the amount of money one can spend on a computerized sewing machine. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't "out dated" so quickly. Alex Anderson has said in one of her podcast, that sewing machines are not made to last forever. Perhaps computerized ones but please, not my 1090!

As for other machines, you have seen my treadle and I do own an older Singer that I think came out in the early 1930s. I haven't been able to take a good picture of it. My camera has the stupids today. I should take that Singer to a dealer to have clean and oiled. My brother found this machine for me. Unfortunately, it has no attachments.

Here you have a very recent picture of my sewing room. It was taken in the morning and since I haven't moved much from the computer, it still looks like it does. Oh, and meet George, my beta fish. You'll find him next to the book case, in the left corner of my sewing table. George and I have had many wonderful conversations! lol

So, what a mess it is hey! The cutting table will need to be cleaned off when I start to put together part two (2) of the Wildberry BOM, which should be as soon as I get myself off this computer. It's amazing how much time one can spend blogging.

Honestly, the mess doesn't bother me at the moment. I know where everything is! When it starts getting on my nerves, I will do a good clean up. Actually, I'm waiting for my husband to finish this custom cabinet that he's making to hold my embroidery threads, supplies and module. This should be completed shortly. I will then do a clean up of my closets, which will lead to a general clean up of my sewing room! lol I will post a picture of this cabinet once complete. Stephen does amazing cabinetry work.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog.

12 comments:

CONNIE W said...

Dropped by to say hi. I have a Bernina 165 with the embroidery module that rarely gets used but I love to do my piecing on this machine. Most of my local quilty friends prefer their Singer FWs and I have two, but they do not sew like my Bernina. :D

Sweet P said...

I don't own a computerized sewing machine and I don't have any plans to get one. I don't have a treadle. I do have a Janome JEM and love it.

My sewing room is in disarray right now thanks to water leaks. I'm waiting for the landlord to repair the damage.

Kim said...

I have a Bernina 150 that I bought about a year into quilting--about 7 years ago, I think. I use that for piecing. I considered getting a Bernina that did embroidery, but I couldn't see myself getting much use out of it. About a year or so ago, I bought a Juki for quilting because I was having some tension issues with the Bernina on free motion. I love the Juki! It's NOT computerized and is a real work horse. It has a couple extra inches of throat space and if I'm ever convinced that I need a frame system, it can be used for that. Unfortunately, I don't have space to leave both machines set up, so I have to plan my projects.

Rose Johnston said...

Thats not a mess......it looks productive!!!!....thnx for sharing.

Kairle Oaks said...

Wow, a whole host of machines. It's always fun to see other quilters' toys. Thanks for sharing.
Kairle

Susan said...

I am a Janome fan and a lover of old Singers.......... Your Bernina has given you good service and that is a great thing for all of us to be able to say.

You have a great space to work in. Creation is always messy.

Darlene said...

Your room just looks "busy" - a very creative person has definitely been busy!

A creative husband, too. WooHoo!

Quilting Kim said...

It's kinda funny, I also have a Bernina 1090 which I love, but I never noticed the pink and blue colors on the front of it until I saw the photo of yours. And, yes, the are there.

Tazzie said...

I just adore my Bernie ... I have the 1080, which is almost identical to yours, just without the knee lifter. It's just the most wonderful workhorse.
This is my first visit to your blog, apologies for not stopping by earlier, I've been naughty about cruising the rings. Thanx for having me!
*hugs*
Tazzie
:-)

Pam said...

Your sewing room looks like a sewing room! Which is how it should look :))

I am just in the process of getting a new sewing room. I bet it's so nice to have a husband that builds amazing cabinetry.

Anonymous said...

Your sewing room looks heaps better then mine - but it is the end of a busy teaching week (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! LOL)

Jenn @ West Sac Honey said...

So I know this is a super old post for you but I'm hoping you'll see my comment..Do I really need to buy a bernina 1090 walking foot?! I just priced it out at a dealer store and it's 147.80! Yikes! I'm starting my first quilt!

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