Happy National Sewing Machine Day!!
Obviously, this is a sewing blog so today is a pretty big deal. I have 3 machines sitting in my craft room right now – a broken singer from Sam’s Club when I first started sewing, my little singer featherweight (which works much better than the newer versions), and my Elna Excellence 🙂
The Elna is really great, so I don’t think I’ll need any other machines for a while. MAYBE an overlock, because it seems like those really help with apparel sewing, but the Elna really does everything. I think it would be cute to collect sewing machine-related things… but I keep trying to clean out my craft room, not add to it!
If you’re looking to buy a sewing machine, I recommend going through a local dealer instead of Joann’s. First, you’ll be able to support local retail business (which is dying to online shopping like Amazon). And Second, you’ll make friends with so much knowledge they can answer any question or problem you have!
My machine is from Pocono Sew and Vac in Stroudsburg, and while it’s quite the drive, I got a free intro lesson to my machine and I can call them with problems any time. They let me sit and test out every machine in the room and directed me towards the best option for what I want to make. I’ll definitely go back when I need a new machine (although that probably won’t be for a while).
I also just want to share a few resources for taking care of Singer Featherweights – they seem to be super popular these days, but I still need to watch a video every time I thread mine *blushing emoji
- DeskDave.com: I’m not sure why the URL has nothing to do with sewing, but this factory makes Featherweights in every color, and they carry all the replacement parts you’ll need. I need to buy the carrying case for my machine so I can travel with it 🙂
- Singer-Featherweight.com: This site has lots of informative blog posts about the history of the machine and how to take care of it. Everything from threading the needle to disassembling the tension unit.
- The Treasure Cellar youtube channel: This is where I found the needle-threading video
- April 1930s youtube channel: a few videos on caring for the machine, and how to use some of the attachments. April 1930s is part of the singer-featherweight.com website.
In case you want more information about my Elna Excellence 680: It’s equivalent to the Janome Skyline S5, and has lots of great reviews! I highly recommend it for quilting and garment sewing! It makes my life so much easier!
Happy Monday!