sewing machine embroidery

karrianne32

HI, I want to buy a sewing machine on which I can do freehand embroidery. It does need to be extremely cheap! I very nearly bought the bush 24 stitch from argos for £69.99 but someone on here said it wasnt any good. Has anyone else got one? Was this a problematic one off? Does anyone have suggestions for a good alternative?
Many thanks.

karrianne32

I bought this machine this morning and will be returning it tomorrow. It didn't stitch to begin with as tension was too tight and kept snapping the thread. Then it wouldn't pick up the thread from underneath so kept "missing" stitches. The buttons were very clunky and were difficult to turn and finally, it left a black (poss oil) mark on the fabric. When i checked the stitch sampler that came with the machine the same black mark was on the buttonhole stitch, the last stitch they did in quality control. All in all i was very disappointed. The price does not outweigh the need for a machine to work

karen

Rikki

I suggest you join The Sewing Forum All the help and advice you will ever need and more about sewing machines and sewing techniques.

Many mse members are members on there too.

There are sewing threads on here too that are worth reading try searching. I look for some links for you.


The sewing Room

Learning to use a sewing machine

Enterprise_1701C

I would have thought you could use any machine with a decent stitch range for embroidery - you just have to make sure you cover the feed (underneath the presser foot).

As for tension, it is normally fairly easy to change the thread tension and the bobbin tension even on cheap machines (my current one is a cheapie from Lidl and I know you can change it on that!). It has to be changeable for different stitches/materials. No idea why there would be problems picking up the thread underneath, possibly a threading problem, maybe the lead thread not long enough?

Have to admit I do not use a machine for embroidery though, normally do it by hand.

karrianne32

I tried to cover the feed dogs on my machine but struggled a bit as the feed dogs work very well and the material moved. I only need straight stitch for embroidery, it's like painting with thread and looks fantastic. I can stitch by hand but rheumatism makes holding the needle difficult.
Do the feed dogs drop in the cheapie you've got? I did check our local lidl and they didnt have one.
I have been using sewing machines regularly for over 30 years but that bush one had me stumped!

Thanks for the advice

karen

Jane_Blackford wrote: »

I would have thought you could use any machine with a decent stitch range for embroidery - you just have to make sure you cover the feed (underneath the presser foot).

As for tension, it is normally fairly easy to change the thread tension and the bobbin tension even on cheap machines (my current one is a cheapie from Lidl and I know you can change it on that!). It has to be changeable for different stitches/materials. No idea why there would be problems picking up the thread underneath, possibly a threading problem, maybe the lead thread not long enough?

Have to admit I do not use a machine for embroidery though, normally do it by hand.

pixie__girlie

karrianne32 wrote: »

I tried to cover the feed dogs on my machine but struggled a bit as the feed dogs work very well and the material moved. I only need straight stitch for embroidery, it's like painting with thread and looks fantastic. I can stitch by hand but rheumatism makes holding the needle difficult.
Do the feed dogs drop in the cheapie you've got? I did check our local lidl and they didnt have one.
I have been using sewing machines regularly for over 30 years but that bush one had me stumped!

karen

Hi Karen, free motion embroidery is fantastic isn't it

I'm wondering if I can give you any advice because I was in the same situation as you not long ago, free stitching was new to me and my (cheap and mostly unreliable ) brother machine (from Aldi! :rotfl: )was frustrating to use. However if you've been using a sewing machine for 30 years (a lot more than me!) you're much more likely to have more of an idea than I do anyway... hahah...
Chances are you won't be able to drop the feed dogs in any cheap machine, what I ended up doing was getting a rectangular piece of card (about the size of a train ticket ) and cutting a square in the middle of it for the needle to go through, and taping this to the machine. This worked pretty well.
I didn't realise that it was actually pretty dangerous to be sewing without a foot, I've heard horror stories of the needle flying into people's eyes. :eek: However it does work and if you're desperate then sewing without a foot is an option, just keep your fingers WELL AWAY from the needle!!!
Especially if you're sewing without a foot, it's likely the tension will get all messed up no matter what fabric you're using and the material will bunch up or stitches will go mental, I found that if you use an under piece (just something cheap like fleece) so what you're working on actually has two layers, it will stitch much easier.
I managed to find a few different feet on ebay for the less industrial machines (!) , the one you're looking for is a darning foot or a quilting foot.

In the end I ended up buying a terribly expensive but wondering Bernina, every day I look at it ( must stop referring to Bernina as an actual person lol ) and think CRIPES you cost as much as a cheap car! But the work I'm doing is tonnes tonnes easier and better quality. So you want any advice on getting a better machine just PM me, I spent a long time weighing up the different ones.

badmumof1

at the end of the day you only get what you pay for.
I have a bernina atrista 200 and its a gorgeous piece of kit.
The only down side is now I am progressing and experimenting more with the machine I now need the software which will set me back £550 - £1100 !!!

Always_Harassed

As far as I know if you want to do free stitch embroidery all you need is a machine which you can drop the feed dog and put on an embroidery foot. You can buy a basic machine for under £100.00 pounds. I would tend to go for a name that I know, my personal favourite is janome but there are lots of other good makes. When I bought my last machine I bought an old model and got a good discount. There are many online suppliers I have bought from a couple.
http://www.sewingmachinediscount.co.uk/?gcid=S16738x001&keyword=sewing%20machines&gclid=CJzOtOP086UCFQkf4QodUhXUog