Xmas pressie for Mrs Nick, budget up to about £300, might get used to make tarps, quilts, frame bags, dresses for little girls, fabric decorations and stuffed toys.

Any one get any suggestions?

If she’s sewing tough material, she’ll want a pretty sturdy machine. Singer gets my vote, mine has lasted me 14 years so far and copes with pretty much anything.

Cheers, Rich

thanks turboferret, anyone else?

We keep an old handpowered 1920s Singer for heavy sewing. No nylon gears to strip.

I don’t think that in reality it will be used for overly heavy duty stuff, sewing up a bit of cordura or webbing occasionally but she’s not going to be trying to take on Levi Jeans or make me a leather motorbike jacket.

I bought Mrs nxb1 a Janome sewing machine from here World of Sewing, in Tunbridge Wells. Helpful staff in there helped her understand which machine best met her needs. Recommended.

nxb1

For that money I’d move on from a Jenome to a Bernina.

Mrs Ratadog is the sewing fiend in this house. We currently stand at one fairly old Bernina and a couple of Janome professional fairly heavy duty machines, plus a few I don’t know about. ( The answer to the how many bikes is enough question in this house is N-1 where N equals the number of sewing machines.)

For the budget you are probably better off with a Janome as the Berninas at that price are not “proper” Berninas. Janome gave good back up as well when there was a minor problem. Best bet is go and find a decent local sewing shop and take their advice. It probably won’t cost you anything more than buying on line as most of thenm have access to manufacturer’s deals. For a bit of briefing before you go the John Lewis web site has a fairly informative buying guide. If you live in NE Yorkshire we can recommend the Bridlington Sewing Centre.

I have an Elna – has coped with everything I’ve tried to sew.
I don’t rate the modern Singers, not as good as they once were.