…to the sewing machine decision! I really do appreciate all of the great suggestions about machines, and I have to tell you all that I really did a lot of investigating and checked out your suggestions. It’s amazing to me how many variables there are in sewing machines. That, and the prices. I think I was a little shocked when I started looking at how much a nice machine would run. But, after debating what I wanted, I decided to pick something that would do everything. And everything is what I got.
I ended up choosing the Brother QC-1000, and so far, I really love it. I had worried about picking a computerized machine (out of fear that it might be obsolete in a number of years) but from what I found is that the power of a computerized machine is so much stronger and can keep its stitches much more even. The cool thing about this machine is that it automatically senses the thickness of the thread and adjusts the tension and stitch power to keep the stitches all the same. When I first started top stitching my totes, I was shocked at how nice and even and not messy it looked, even when going over the handles and sides.
There’s so many features that I haven’t even had a real chance to work with yet, but I love the fact that it will be a long time before I run out of new things to explore on it. It’s such a dream to sew on, and I know that my finished products are looking a ton better. It’s fast, it’s smart, and it’s been a quick machine to learn, despite all the features.
And as far as features go, it threads itself, it cuts the thread at at the end of the seam, it sews front to back, side to side, and diagonally, it came with a walking foot, plus several other quilting feet (I have to get some practice with those soon!) and has more stitches than you can shake a stick at. Then, if I couldn’t find a stitch that I wanted it to do, I could upload a pattern to the machine and it would add it to it’s stitch library. It’s seriously, freaking cool!