New Zigzaggers

Janome 3500

by Lisa Lam, whose blog is all about making super-cute handbags -- look, too, for the links to her handbag-making online shop, where she sells handles and hardware and fabrics
(Lisa can't explain why she wanted her favorite heels in that photo, but aren't they adorable?)

Love it, hate it, or something in between? I love my Janome. I've always used them (I've owned three so far) and my 3500 is still going strong.

When did you buy this sewing machine? My husband bought her for me in 2002.

When was it manufactured? Don't know, but it was bought new.

Where did you buy it? From a department store (John Lewis in Southampton, U.K.).

How much did you pay for it? Approximately £350 ($700).

How many projects have you done on this machine? It runs into the hundreds.

Describe the kind of work you've done with it. Eighty-five percent bags because I'm a bag designer/maker.

What do you like and what do you hate about it? I love that she's so dependable, and I do really push her sometimes. I'll try to stuff umpteen layers under the foot, and with a bit of coaxing and a new needle she can still work wonders. If she hates me and my layers, she will auto-stop, and after freeing up the nightmare layers, she just starts up again! I do wish she sewed a bit faster sometimes (don't tell her I said that), but it's a small price to pay for her dependability.

Brother LS-1217

by j. godsey, who blogs about making and repairing books (and other assorted topics, like making kitten slings) at Swill on a Stick

Love it, hate it, or something in between? Adore it. I used to own hand-me down machines: Singers and Whites that were attached to their tables; this was my first store-bought brand new machine. And it has never disappointed me. It worked like a dream straight out of the box, and if I don't use it for 6 months it still works perfectly.

When did you buy this sewing machine? About 8 years ago, I think.

When was it manufactured? I bought it brand new, but it was probably from the year before as it was on deep discount. I tried later to buy a second one as a gift and it had already been replaced with models I didn't think were as well designed. They had added preprogrammed stitches and replaced the knobs with buttons, etc...

Where did you buy it? Walmart

How much did you pay for it? $60 dollars down from $89

How many projects have you done on this machine? Hundreds.

Describe the kind of work you've done with it. I don't do clothes or fancy goods. No decorative stitches for me. I am home-project oriented; I see a sewing machine the same way I see a power drill. I have made curtains, bags, pet beds, stuffed toys, and fixed many things. I have even used it to stitch a book. I am presently making book covers and a bicycle seat bag.

What do you like and what do you hate about it? It's simplicity. With hand-me-down machines, I was always having to pay to get them adjusted. If I didn't use them constantly they went out of whack for some
reason. Sometimes I cover this machine up and don't use it for months at a time; then I pull it out and do a ton of things with it. It never fails me. I read the manual cover to cover when I got it, and it was so simple. The machine has 3 controls and once you have mastered that, you never have to THINK about it again. Instead of functions and electronic buttons, sometimes you just want a manual machine that does a few things very well. And its light weight and portability means I can just put it or take it anywhere I want to work.

Singer 8280

by Krista

Love it, hate it, or something in between? It got me going, so I feel a little bit of an attachment to it. It gave me lots of frustration, but some of that was surely my own fault, as an ignorant beginner who kept forgetting to put down the presser foot before sewing. Then again, some of it was certainly the fault of this cheapy sewing machine, which came up with new ways to foil me on a regular basis until I stashed it to use my 1972 White.

When did you buy this sewing machine? late 2005

When was it manufactured? it was new, so around 2005

Where did you buy it? Target

How much did you pay for it? about $80

How many projects have you done on this machine? approximately 15

Describe the kind of work you've done with it. I started with baby pouches, repaired heavy-duty items like wrist and knee braces, sewed a hideous (not the machine's fault) canvas handbag, two cloth grocery bags, a few little gift bags and pouches, a summer dress, three skirts, two tops, several pairs of elastic-waistband toddler pants, a fleece monkey costume, and started working on a sail cover made of heavy-duty marine canvas called Sunbrella.

What do you like and what do you hate about it? Thread jams. Seriously, all the time. In fairness, they became rarer as I used the machine more, so I really do think that I was doing funky things in the beginning that set it off -- I went through a phase where I loaded the thread into the bobbin case backward, and that wreaked havoc; I often forgot to put the presser foot down before sewing, and I just wasn't very adept at moving certain fabric types through. Still, it often jammed when I think I was doing everything right, and my White almost never jams, so I'm pretty sure the machine is highly susceptible to thread jams.

One of its biggest problems, aside from the thread jams, was that the plastic reverse lever got shredded inside the machine -- apparently the mechanism was too tight. Singer sent me a new lever (they did suggest I return the machine for a replacement, but with a tiny baby and a complicated living situation at that time, I couldn't drag myself back to Target in another state), and after doing some complicated jerry-rigging and being oh-so-careful, I did manage to keep it working reasonably well. And then one day I decided to drop some sewing machine oil down in the hole, and, well, the problem was totally fixed. So I see it as an indication that care was not taken in making the machine in the first place, but, again, if I'd known my way around a sewing machine better, I probably could have cleared it up right off the bat and saved myself a year and a half of grief.

As long as the thread wasn't getting all balled up under the needle plate, it worked great. The stitches looked good, and it even had enough power to get through some thick fabrics -- when I was sewing the sail cover, the needle seemed to go through the heavy canvas without too much effort, but the overall project was really too heavy for the feed dogs to move through very effectively. Also, I don't think it had any way to adjust the presser foot pressure or to lower the feed dogs, which I've since found to be a handy feature.