Sewing Machines

A few weeks ago, I started looking at a new sewing machine. We had around $150 for me to spend on a new machine, but it had to come from Walmart, as $100 of that was on a gift card. I did my research, I looked at the models, the reviews, and asked for advice.

I finally settled on the Brother CS-6000i model, which did have several bad reviews, but had almost 300 5 star reviews. It looked like the best machine for the money I had to spend. I ordered it last week, and it arrived finally last night.

I spent the night setting it up, and looking at the manual, then finally sewed with it for the first time today. I made an adorable Santa hat, similar to the one Tim Allen wears in Santa Clause, where the hat is gathered on one side. It turned out great!

Then, I started an apron for Gillian for Christmas to go with her Easy Bake oven. It stitched beautifully, including some decorative stitches. I added a ruffle, and one side did not want to stay down, so I sewed a straight line down it, to keep it down.

That's when it happened. A grinding sound, followed by a locked up machine, and a flashing E6 error message. I looked in the manual, and found it just meant tangled thread. Ok, no problem. I cut away the threads, cleared the tangles, and tried again. Again, a grinding sound and a locked up machine, this time with a severely bent needle.

I changed the needle, the thread, and the bobbin. I tried again. Over and over I tried. I switched materials. I just kept getting that horrible sound, and a mass of tangled thread.

It took me almost 10 minutes to locate a phone number on Brother's web site (by the way, if you miss read the first 3 digits as 866 instead of 877, you'll get a very nasty porn phone center, just so you know). I got a guy who simply referred me to another part of the manual, and brushed me off the phone in under 2 minutes. Poor customer service- he should have waited while I did that, and assisted me further. My husband is tech support, I know how they SHOULD respond.

Anyway, I did what the manual showed, which was cleaning out the bobbin casing, and removing parts to clean further in case any tangles were in there. I tried it- it still did locked up.

I had to leave and get Gillian off the bus, and when I came back, I called again. I was told the only answer now is to take a BRAND NEW sewing machine in to be fixed. I was assured it would be free. Luckily, there is a service center in Lansing.

I called the service center, got their hours, and asked how long it would take. 2 weeks, minimum. I started crying. Here I am with a brand new sewing machine, and I can't use it. I can return it, and try another model, but we can't afford to pay for a better model, and it's useless to buy a cheaper one. Out of the 3 Walmart.com had in the $150 range, this one had the best reviews, by far. Besides, they don't carry anything decent in the store, so I would have to order it- taking at least a week to arrive.

I really do not want to be without a machine for 2 weeks. I have sewing I've been putting off for Christmas because my old machine is horrible, and has issues all the time. I get fed up with it.

So, here I sit, extremely unhappy with my brand new sewing machine, and I have nothing I can do about it.

Sewing Machine Advice

For Christmas this year, I am getting a new sewing machine. The one I use currently is not a great machine, but it was a free hand me down. The tension has always been wacky, and it won't sew any type of delicate fabric (sheers, lace, decroative costume fabrics, etc, without the feed EATING it!). It gives me headaches. I get into a sewing mood, and put up with it for some time, then fizzle out on it, because I get so fed up with it!

So, where was I? Yes, a new sewing machine. My budget is $150 (with a tiny bit of budge room), and while I would love to shop anywhere, $100 of that is coming from Walmart in the form of a Christmas gift card, soo.... I need some advice from the sewers out there.

There are probably 6-7 machines on Walmart.com that range from $70-160. They all have great reviews, with a small handful of not-so-great reviews. Here are the specific machines I am looking at:

Brother 60 Stitch CS-6000i This machine is $160. This has almost a 5 star average rating. It has 404 user reviews, 299 of which are 5 star, and 77 are 4 star. However, it has the highest 1 star reviews at 17, but given how many reviews there are, the average is lower for 1 star ratings than with other machines. There are 6 3 stars and 5 2 stars, as well.

Brother 50 Stitch Project Runway Edition This machine is $140. This machine has 115 reviews. 101 are split between 4 & 5 star ratings, with 3 3 star ratings, 3 2 star ratings, and 8 1 star ratings. In all, it has almost a 4 and a half star rating average.

Brother 35 Stitch XL3750 This machine is $140 as well. This machine has just 20 total reviews, resulting in just a shade over 4 out of 5 stars average. There are 11 5 star reviews, 5 4 star reviews, 2 3 star reviews, and 1 each of a 2 and 1 star review. In looking at the numbers, I'm going to cross this one off the list myself.

After just now looking at the other, cheaper models, I noticed that most had 20 or less stitch types, and I would like to have more options than that. My current machine boasts all of 13, 3 of which are button hole stitches the machine won't actually do. Heck, out of the 13, the machine can only handle 4. I would love to have lots of stitches available, but in having just recounted just how few my machine actually does, perhaps a 20 or 25 stitch machine isn't so bad? ;)

Here are some more machines.

Singer Simple 23-Stitch Machine 2263 This one is $90. This has only 26 total reviews, giving it just a shade over 4 stars in average. 12 are 5 star ratings, 11 are 4 stars. There are 2 2 star ratings, and 1 1 star rating.

Brother 25 Stitch Free Arm Machine, XL-2600i This machine is also $90. 80 reviews, giving it an average of 4.3 stars out of 5. 46 are 5 star reviews, 26 are 4 star reviews. Only 8 reviews total make up the 3, 2, and 1 star reviews.

All 5 machines have good reviews for the most part.In an ideal world, I would go with a $600 Singer, and get a Serger as well. But, this is hardly an ideal world. It's my frugal world.

I'm hoping someone out there has used one of these machines, and can give me some advice. Being that the money is mostly in gift cards, it really limits just what I can do for a machine. We don't have a lot of extra money to put into a sewing machine right now, but I do want one, so I can try to tackle more things.

Please, leave a comment and help me out! I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts, even if they have not used any of the above machines!