A shiny present for me!

I got an exciting big parcel the other day. So exciting that I couldn’t wait to unwrap it! I practically tore it open.

This is my first proper sewing machine. My previous machine was a basic white-box unbranded one that cost about £30 from Tesco maybe ten years ago. It was getting useless – the thread kept jumping out of the bobbin if I sewed too fast (something you only notice AFTER you finish that long, long row and find a mile of loops under your sewing) Also, it was really hard to get the tension right and it couldn’t handle anything thicker than about three layers of dress-weight fabric. It lasted a long time, and I put up with all that until finally the tensioning bits broke altogether and no amount of turning the wheel made a blind bit of difference.

I spent a long time choosing a new one – I knew I wanted automatic buttonholes and at least twenty stitches. I hardly ever use them but boy do I like those little wavy and swirly ones! I also wanted as much to be computerised as possible. I’m a big fan of computers and I have a possibly unhealthy trust in them. The only problem I had was that I didn’t really have any money, at least not the £700 - £1400 for a really good dream sewing machine.

In the end I chose the Brother FS-40 WT. It has forty stitches, five of which are automatic buttonholes, and lots of computerisation. It has a start-stop button and one to make the needle move up or down and I can adjust the speed without using the foot pedal. It also has an extension table which is a really useful addition.

On Amazon this machine is in the region of £225 which isn’t too bad, but I bought mine refurbished from Pembertons Sewing Machines for £125 which included courier delivery. It’s in amazing condition, just like new – whoever owned it before either really looked after it or only used it once!

So far I’ve only had time to try out the stitches. The little LCD screen is really useful because it tells you which foot to use, and also the recommended stitch length and width (which I ignored, pressing the + button until everything was huge!) I’ve got a really long list of things to sew though – I’d already cut out Simplicity 3835 a couple of weeks ago and gone through my sewing magazines marking things I want to make. I bought a few round feather cushion pads too because I really, really want to sew some round cushions.

All I have to do now is actually make them! Tomorrow I’m building a new run for the hens (in the mud and rain!) but I might be able to find a few hours on Monday afternoon.

Whoop!

Beccy