The Sewing Room

Savvy_sewing

If you click on peoples names, you can go to their homepages, and that will show you if they have outlets or not. Quite a few of us do sell our stuff via some other sites. But we are not allowed to advertise on here.
(And the blogs can be interesting too).

Keiss_21

sammyw wrote: »

Hi So I am still trying to decide which machine to go for...

Local dealer suggests the Juki HZL-K65
http://directknitting.co.uk/fgl/?con...&product_id=62

or the Juki HZL-G110

I prefer the price of the Frister and Rossman QE404 or the Janomte XL601 though. The online reviews seem good, but just not sure...

I really don't know if it's worth paying extra for the Juki. What do you all think?

Hya Sammy, a good range of machines there. I recommend getting the best machine that you can afford, that offers the features you want.

I work in a sewing machine shop, about 3 months now, so getting the hang of lots of different machines. I have used both the Juki and Janomes, but not the F+R.

The Jukis are good solid machines, but a but pricey. The majority of industrial machines in the Far East are Jukis, they are now spreading their wings into the domestic market.

The Janome 601 is good, does it come with a free quilting kit? They were on offer until the end of May, but the dealers are allowed to give the last they have in stock away with the 601. If you want to spend a bit more money, then the Janome 603 or 607 are good machines too.

If you are considering spending over £600, then have a serious look at the Berninas, the best machines about.

Hope this helps you a bit. How exciting to get a new machine!

sammyw

Thanks for your reply keiss.
Having seen the Juki HZL-G110 the other day and the throat space it has, I'm kind of tempted to wait and save up for that.
Do you know if the Janome 601 has much throat space? I can't find it in any local shops to have a look at and it's so hard to tell from an online pic.

rufusdog52

Afternoon everyone. I have been a bit awol on here, not sure why, probs because I haven't had any finished projects to talk about. I made OH a car tidy from a tutorial on the internet. I put a photo on my blog. Since then I have been working on some small squares for a patchwork quilt. I am just using up the small scrap pieces I had laying about in baskets. I have made up a load of small squares which are four triangles sewn together. Now I need to trim them all to the same size which is taking forever as I can only do them one at a time as when I tried to put one on top of another and cut with the rotary cutter it slipped so gone back to doing them singularly. I have had other things to do too the last few days so the squares are only getting done when I have an odd five or ten minutes so at this rate it will take me a month to trim them all lol. When I have got them all trimmed I am going to use up the scrap white fabrics I have and use this to border the squares and then sew them all together.

I havent worked out how many I need or anything as I dont have a size in mind, I will just wait and see how it goes as I go along.

Still no luck on the craft fair front. the woman emailed me in the week to say she has only got three people booked and that includes me so looks like it will get called off. I cant book the other one as I dont have the money to get the insurance so looks like I am stuck with it all.

Savvy_sewing

rufusd!!!2 wrote: »

Afternoon everyone. I have been a bit awol on here, not sure why, probs because I haven't had any finished projects to talk about. I made OH a car tidy from a tutorial on the internet. I put a photo on my blog. Since then I have been working on some small squares for a patchwork quilt. I am just using up the small scrap pieces I had laying about in baskets. I have made up a load of small squares which are four triangles sewn together. Now I need to trim them all to the same size which is taking forever as I can only do them one at a time as when I tried to put one on top of another and cut with the rotary cutter it slipped so gone back to doing them singularly. I have had other things to do too the last few days so the squares are only getting done when I have an odd five or ten minutes so at this rate it will take me a month to trim them all lol. When I have got them all trimmed I am going to use up the scrap white fabrics I have and use this to border the squares and then sew them all together.

I havent worked out how many I need or anything as I dont have a size in mind, I will just wait and see how it goes as I go along.

Still no luck on the craft fair front. the woman emailed me in the week to say she has only got three people booked and that includes me so looks like it will get called off. I cant book the other one as I dont have the money to get the insurance so looks like I am stuck with it all.

Put it in your online shop? Or see about just keeping the stock and doing some table top in the September Harvest festival times? Possible?
I never got enough made, and doubt I ever will! Something always comes up.
Just making black and white hexagons at the moment, or black/white printed fabrics from the makower range, so its going to take some time for a quilt to appear from that! (If ever).

avstar

Hi Rufus, thats a shame the craft fair looks like it will be called off, sure all this extra red tape is killing craft fairs

Here's part 2 of my lingerie trio, the camisole top. From McCalls M5989. More pics on my blog inc how they don't match the PJ bottoms because I didn't order enought fabric

trix-a-belle

Ooh that's gorgeous!!
More projects to add to my list

learningtosew

I'm thinking of buying a sewing amchine. my local lidl has a silver crest at £50 or there's a janome 2139N on gumtree, the sellers asking £70. anybody got any thoughts?

Keiss_21

sammyw wrote: »

Thanks for your reply keiss.
Having seen the Juki HZL-G110 the other day and the throat space it has, I'm kind of tempted to wait and save up for that.
Do you know if the Janome 601 has much throat space? I can't find it in any local shops to have a look at and it's so hard to tell from an online pic.

Hya Sammy, was at work today and measured the aperture (apparently that's what it's called!!) sizes of various machines:
Juki: both the G110 and F300, both have an aperture of 8".
Janome: 607 is 6"7/8; while the 603 is 6"3/4 and the 601 smaller still.
Bernina 550QE, is 7"1/2 but £1750:eek:.
Janome Horizon 7700 - an impressive 11", and again around the £1800 mark...but beautiful!!

I understand Bernina are bringing out some new longer-arm machines, show-casing at the Festival of Quilts next month, so I will be able to report back on what they are like...just as well I can't afford any new machine for the next three years...at least!! (kids at Uni...so we are broke too!!)

learningtosew wrote: »

I'm thinking of buying a sewing amchine. my local lidl has a silver crest at £50 or there's a janome 2139N on gumtree, the sellers asking £70. anybody got any thoughts?

I would go for the Janome...they're a good make of machine and more likely to survive for much longer than the Silver Crest. We've had a few folk come into the shop wanting to buy a replacement for their Lidl machines, as they never seem to last very long, or cope with heavier-weight materials.

Hope this helps.

Up too late, need to get to bed...but still sooo hot here .

Justamum

learningtosew wrote: »

I'm thinking of buying a sewing amchine. my local lidl has a silver crest at £50 or there's a janome 2139N on gumtree, the sellers asking £70. anybody got any thoughts?

I've just googled the Janome one. There's one for sale (in American admittedly) for $180, which converts to £116 so £70 sounds like good value.