I need help buying a sewing machine please

Dora_the_Explorer_5

Cheap thread is the stuff sold in Poundland and supermarkets - it's ok for sewing on the odd button. Fabric shops usually sell good quality thread, and anyway you'll want to match the thread colour to the fabric you'll use. I can't recommend a make as I inherited my mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers thread and button boxes which amounted to hundreds of spools and I'm still working my way through them!
I personally wouldn't bother with ebay as it's impossible portray the colours accurately but other people may have a different view. Same goes for fabric, trimmings, notions, etc etc. Your local market would be a good place to look if its a good one - mine's useless but the indoor market in Leeds is excellent and the prices for all the bits and bobs - elastic, pins, wadding, are probably much better than ebay once you've added in the post charges. And the added bonus is at a shop or market you can see and feel what you're buying.
Hope this helps.

kylah16

Thanks, I live in Birmingham and theres a place in the bull ring markets I will use.
What exactly do you sew? I hope you don't mind me asking all these questions!!

beautifulgorgeous_2

The Rag market is good for fabric,ribbon and elastic but the thread is cheap and nasty. Be careful if you buy knitted or silky fabrics as these can be tricky for a beginner to sew. You could enrol at an evening class as it is often easier to learn from a real person!

beautifulgorgeous_2

You could invest in a large reel of black and white thread as you can often get away ith white on light fabrics and black on dark.

kylah16

What about the shop in the newer indoor market by the lifts and the cashpoints - they sell sewing and crafts stuff - is that one any good?

Sarahjovi

Hi,

I've been sewing for years and made clothes, curtains, etc, etc., I even went through a phase of making soft toys, but it didn't do my sewing machine much good, with all the fluff clogging up the works! The machine (a toyota) struggled on until my hubby brought me a new one a couple of years ago! (Got a Brother from the Argos Catalogue).

I would recommend a machine, with a removalable flat bed for free arm sewing (eg around sleeves and narrow openings), Zig Zag stitch, and a an automatic Button holer, a stretch stitch can be useful, I think most machines come with these and lots of stitches you probably won't use.

I use a good make of sewing thread such as Sylko or Gutterman. John Lewis or a good sewing shop will sell these. I have bought cheap threads, but have always gone back to these good makes, especially for something special or something you want to last.

Hope this helps

Sarah