Any sewing machine recommendations?

afterglow_2

hope this is right place to post this, am desperate for a sewing machine at the moment, have started buying and selling on ebay and have a clever craft idea to make me money!
but i need a sewing machine to make some stuffed objects, think cushions, draught excluder sausage dogs, that sort of thing but with a big difference and very unique and sellable!
so it must be heavy duty, and has to be very simple and user friendly as have never used one before, and cheap can only spare about £50 to start off!!
what should i look for, features, makes, size, thinking ebay and gumtree??

any help greatly appreciated;)

Casati

If you are doing lots of heavy duty things then you really need an industrial, thry are the only ones that properly cope with multiple layers of heavyweight fabric. Good luck finding one for £50...

If you go for a domestic, the guy who does my servicing reccomends Bernina, he says he sells them to schools all over London and you wouldn't believe the crazy stuff kids do to them, apparently they are pretty tough and relatively simple & inexpensive to repair if something goes wrong....hope this is some help..

SunnyGirl

You only want a fairly basic one to be honest. There's no point paying for a machine that'll do 4 different types of buttonholes if you'll never use it! I do a lot of dress making & even though I've made many different things the most used settings on the machine are - straight stitch (often useful if you can vary the length but not essential) & zig zag for finishing off edges. Some machines have an overlock type stitch but I have always just used a zig zag. Keep your needles sharp and change them often if the material you're using is heavy duty, they're not expensive. Finally, always always do a test bit of sewing on a spare bit of material to test for tension.

If you're a complete novice (apologies if you're not!) I found The Readers Digest Book of Home Sewing brilliant. I got a copy from the library & used it so much that I bought one from eBay. Good luck & enjoy yourself!!

kate83

Aldi do a sewing machine for just under £40, you have to wait for it to come in though (last in November - think it's every few months) - never seen it in lidl/netto but they tend to do similar stuff - or Argos do some for about £70/80.
They're all very basic though so don't know if they'll put up with a lot of heavy material - but would do for starters so you can see if your idea sells

I've used the aldi one and that's easy to learn - if you can find one with a drop in bobbin then that makes things a liitle easier

rosh12

TJ Hughes had a Brother for around £50 recently... Good luck!

marri_lou

I got mines from Cash Converter for £30-35 a year or so ago, give them a look!

louise3965

Got mine from Aldi in Dec it was £40 and is great for everything but velcro. It hates velcro!!!!

ehallett

Hi everyone

For those that know about sewing machines, is this one good for a beginner?

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-2104.aspx

I really want to start dressmaking but need to learn first so don't want to spend too much on a machine just yet.

Thank you

Emily xx

nuttywoman

I don`t think you can go wrong for that price.
Good luck.

rachbc

If you want to make clothes then go with something that can do button holes (1 step is easier but you'll pay a bit more for this, 4 step is fine) a stretch stitch is handy too. If you can afford it I'd go for the singer on there for £60 or look for a reconditioned machine.