Wednesday 5 May 2010

Sewing Machines


On an impulse I bought a new sewing machine today. From Lidl of all places. This happened after having my Bernina Aurora 440 serviced. When collecting that from David Drummond in Edinburgh John handed over my Bernina Virtuoso 160+ to be serviced as well. It is great to get your machine back from a service as miraculously everything works again and the machine makes that really lovely contented sound that only comes from a machine in splendid working order! Thank you David Drummond!!

I knew in my heart of hearts why these machines needed to be serviced and it is because I use them for purposes they were never intended for. Such as 5 layers of furnishing fabric, or layers of paper and fabric with glue in between, or thick layers of canvas combined with watercolour paper. Had I stuck to just one or maybe two layers of all of the above the machines would probably not have minded but all together it is simply too much for them, specially as I then help these layers along (that's polite for push and shove!!) by hand.

My Bernina 440 at one stage shot what looked like a spring out of its inards, which meant that it had to be send to Switzerland to be repaired. By some miracle this happened a week before its 5-year warranty was up (thanks again to David Drummond !!) so that cost me nothing but the top pressure on my feet was out on both machines. Also my needle shafts were out of alignment. No doubt caused by that pushing and shoving! Having each of these machines serviced costs more than my new machine!

So my mind was made up. These machines are simply too expensive to be ruined by the tasks I sometimes give them. The new machine Silver Crest from Lidl (cost £60) will have to take care of these onerous tasks in future and when it breaks I'll simply get another one and that's that!! In fact, it sews great and even has a special foot for sewing on buttons (none of my Berninas offers this) which I will start putting to good use tomorrow. All thick mixed media projects will come its way and it will be interesting to see how well it will cope.

At the same time I will enjoy machine piecing and quilting on my newly serviced Berninas and enjoy the wonderful and satisfying sounds they make while doing what they were made to do!

6 comments:

Maggi said...

Congrats on the new machine! I think you've got it right, just use it till it can't go no more! lol

Tristan Robin said...

I'm terribly envious of your Berninas! I have three machines - but no high end ones. I only get industrial machines (Juki, Knecci and a Brother) ... they rarely (never) break down - but they don't have a bazillion bells and whistles. And I do like bells and whistles. But when I'm sewing through lots of layers of fabric and papers for collages, they sew through it as if it were a stack of soft butter!

Enjoy your new machine (I've never heard of that brand)!

chris, milatos said...

Hi
Found your blog through cariadincrete. We had the sewing machine in our Lidle here in Crete a while back. Thought about it and did not bother. Oh I wish I had. Will look out for it, hope they have them in again. Happy sewing.

creativelenna said...

what a smart woman you are!! Definitely, it makes sense to dedicate one machine for all the thick layers and paper fabric sandwiches mixed media sometimes requires . . . and the other ones for your quilting work. whoo ha! Sounds like a plan and you can keep up BOTH kinds of art which pleases me and I know, YOU!!

Georgina said...

Nothing like a new machine to get the creative juices flowing! I have the loan of Binky's Janome whilst she's moving house and I am wondering how I can delay it's return!
I have a very cheap and cheerful Brother machine tucked away which has never let me down even when sewing repairs in old canvas New Zealand horse rugs years ago. I have every faith in your Lidl machine!

The Pied Pedlar said...

I have had a Lervia machine from Lidl's cost under £50 and have used it now for over 4yr's .Ito had the same thought as you .I take it to workshop's and have had endless use and no problems.
Tricia

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails