I am blessed / cursed
by owning three sewing machines. (Well,
technically, one is my wife’s but I use it most.)
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| Brother CS6000i |
I started
quilting when we were at our Bend, Oregon house. Needing a machine, I went to
WallyWorld and lucked out. They had, for just $160, a Brother CS6000i
(the ‘i’ screams hi-tech).
This machine is wonderful! It has 60 stitches and tons of features. I
especially like the touch control that does away with the foot pedal. It came
with lots of feet and accessories. Very complete. Very light. Downside? It has
plastic parts, can’t be oiled or affordably serviced. It is a throw-away
machine but a great one for occasional sewing. It’s maybe a 3-quilt machine
before it quits. Maybe 5?
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| Bernina Artista 170 |
We left the CS6000i in
Bend when we returned to South Carolina. Waiting there was my wife’s virtually
unused Bernina Artista 170, a little $4,000+ number fully justifying every tube
of paint, sable brush, piece of canvas, and tool I have ever bought. It came ‘naked’ and had to have all kinds
of accessories, an embroidery attachment, and this and that. OK. I encouraged
her, but it was a guilt thing over my high bills for art supplies. Not to
mention the camera(s)…or the computer(s). And that name, “Artista”, makes it
seem all worthwhile, doesn't it. I am an Artista!
The Artista, for
all its hundreds of stitches and LED screen, had never worked right. The bobbin thread would be fine and then, suddenly, not fine. I lost
about two months of quilting time while I tried to get it to work and finally
took it in to the shop. The head was bent -- maybe an encounter with upholstery
fabric, maybe not. $200! Now you see why buying 25 of the Brother CS6000i
machines for less than the Bernina 170 Artista might make sense. Just toss it
and haul the next one out of storage -- but what to do with all those extra
feet that come with each machine?
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| Bernina 830 Record |
I planned to
leave the Bernina behind in South Carolina and use the Brother in Oregon. Shipping was big $$$'s and the chance of another $200 repair bill was high. Then,
about a week before our coastal displacement, at an estate sale in Bend, my older
daughter scored a Bernina 830 Record worth about $600 on eBay and paid just
$75! Not only did she get the machine; she got a very nice sewing table with
it, all the feet and accessories, the manual, and lots of threads, bobbins, and
notions. The only things missing are the red carrying case, the knee lift for
the sewing foot, and the folding table.
If you have those, talk to me!
I oiled it up
and away it went! I think the previous owner must have put no more than 20
hours on it and most of that was in class. I found her(?) class projects in a
plastic bag in one of the drawers and realized that most of the notions and
fabrics were from the classes. Amazing find! Thank you sweet daughter! This makes
up for a few forgotten gifts and you are forgiven for the next five years from
all gifting.
Blessing..or
curse? Now I have to learn three machines, their foibles, their sewing
abilities, their maintenance needs, their storage demands. An embarrassment of
riches and more demands on my sewing time.
I really am
dissembling. GO! NOW! CUT FABRIC! Sew
better seams! Work!
Well, I got eleven small triple squares done and they more or less match the pattern. It's hard to say exactly what happened to change things but here are some of the things that may have helped:
I changed pins. I was using silk pins which are small and don't leave a big hole. Here, I have flower pins. They are a lot longer. Maybe that helps. I changed the ruler I use. I created a small test pattern just for this square instead of the whole 12" block. I changed threads from cotton to polyester. I suppose that's a no-no in quilting cotton fabrics but the finer thread works better. When confidence lags, change everything and approach the problem 
