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Thursday, September 12, 2013

Sewing machine shopping and......

If you read my blog often, you know that every time I start FMQing another quilt, usually all I have is trouble and headaches and tangled thread and skipped stitches with my Pfaff.

Well yesterday I had about had it.  I was having to stop and restart about every 3 minutes so I finally called the sewing machine store, once again and I laid it all out for the person that I got on the phone.  Yes I've called multiple times about this same issue.  Yes I've re-threaded and changed my needle.  Yes I've brought it in.  Yes you guys have serviced it multiple times.

I finally got a sales person who told me the truth.  "Your machine is a great machine but it's not really set up for free motion quilting.  It does what it does really well, and if you only free motion once in a while it would be fine but...."

I thanked her profusely for FINALLY telling me what I needed to hear.  We talked for about 20 minutes.  I asked her what she thought I needed in addition to this machine to make my sewing life stress free.  She asked my price range and I told her as little as possible to still do what I want to do in a manner that will make me happy.  We laughed a lot and I liked talking to her.  I've settled on a Juki TL-2010Q.  I can't get it right now but as soon as I have enough saved that machine is going to come live at my house.  It will be a dedicated FMQ machine while my Pfaff will be for piecing, garment sewing and anything else I need to do since it works great for all those things.

Hubby is much happier now that I've made a choice (I was considering a new Brother with a sticker price 4x that of the Juki but that would have taken me way to long to save enough).

Anyway, after I gave up on the FMQ yesterday I worked on a secret surprise quilt top that I'm going to try to get the project finished by Thanksgiving as it is a gift that I want to give at that time.  I got quite a bit done on it too!  The postage stamp portion will be the center of the quilt and will be about 27 inches square then I'm going to build around it to make the quilt between 60 and 70 inches square.  I can't WAIT to see the face of the person this is for when they receive it! :D


So quickly...

This is what is happening about every 5 minutes while I try to FMQ.  Anyone have anything similar?  Know how to fix it before I lose my mind? :D


5 comments:

Lane said...

No suggestions on the pfaff. I sometimes have that same issue where the top thread seems to get twisted in the bobbin area and when the needle comes back up, I have to stop and start over. That's usually on a vintage machine. If you don't want to spend much, I highly recommend a used Bernina 930. You can get them for between $500 and $1000 and they are a true workhorse. Mine quilts almost silently and can go for hours without any more effort than replacing the bobbin and a drop of oil between each bobbin. I even found the instructions to do my own service and tension adjustments. Good luck with whatever choice you make. If you're going to FMQ, you have to have a machine that will do it or you'll go crazy trying. Lane

Little Penpen said...

Aw, man...I can imagine the frustration. I hope you can work it out. I like the postage stamp quilt.

Needled Mom said...

There is nothing more frustrating than when the machine will not perform as we expect. I am glad it got sorted out.

Michele said...

So sorry that you have to purchase a new machine to do what you want to do. Have you checked the Sew Its For Sale Yahoo group? You might be able to get a used one there for a lot less money = you'd have it sooner.

Rachel said...

While I do have a sit down quilting mchine, I love quilting on my Juki too :-)