Buying the Best Sewing Machine For You Session 4: Let’s Get Real

Choices, choices, choices. Everybody's got a machine, lots of machines, lots of fun machines, and everybody wants your business. There are three questions that you will probably hear when you walk into the dealer. The very first is, why are you buying a machine? I want you to think about this before you get to the dealer, so you really can evaluate what's important to you. Are you new to sewing? Are you buying a replacement, an upgrade, or an additional machine? Are you retiring, and you're buying that retirement machine? Are you buying it for just enjoyment, or are you buying it for business? These all make a difference in which direction the dealer will want to steer you, but you need to be the one doing the steering. If you're new to sewing, you may be wanting more of that entry-level machine. If you're replacing a machine, you're probably gonna want to be on the same level you're at, but if you're doing an additional machine, you may be able to go lower, or maybe even to just a nice midline machine. Or maybe even, like I did, just do a straight stitch for my additional machine. If you're upgrading, obviously you want to move up. If it's the retirement machine, I have known people that have paid at the very high end for the computerized embroidery machine, with all the bells and whistles, because they said, "I'm worth it and I want to have fun!" and instead of buying a sports car, they put the money into the sewing machine. A lot of you are doing it just for the pure heck of enjoyment and creativity, and probably midline or even top of the line is the right machine for you. If you're in a business, that's where you really need to evaluate and say, what am I going to do with this machine in my business? And what's the best return on my investment? The next question you're going to be asked is, what do you need it to do? What is your current type of sewing? Are you a garment sewer, home dec sewer, a quilter? What do you currently do? And the next question after that is, what would you like to do? Because there's always room for growth, and maybe you've just been a garment sewer to date, but you'd really like to try adding in embroidery, because it looks fun, or you've got a new grandchild and you want to make cute baby clothes. Whatever the case may be, these are the questions you need to think about and answer, honestly, realistically. Why are you buying a machine? What do you need it to do? And what is your current sewing? What would you like it to do? And finally, I want you, like we talked about in the last one, think about and write down, what are your must-have options in stitches? That will definitely sway your choices. Not all of those options are available on every machine, and you may have to move up to get the options that're the absolute most important to you, like I did, but because I had a business and those were time-saving options, it was worth every penny for me to move up. Another issue is, how tech savvy are you? Do you feel comfortable with an electronic or a computerized machine, or do you just want an old-fashioned reliable mechanical machine? What is your tech savviness? We want to look at control versus convenience. A lot of the machines, especially electronic, push the button, everything's there, you're ready to go. If you want total control, actually, the mechanical machine is pretty good, or you may want to move up to computerized that allows you absolute control. And of course, we always have the price range. Everybody's got a budget. Well, most of us have a budget, and that is indeed a consideration. Use the cost analysis. You may be able to move up a little bit, but don't go sewing machine poor. So what's going to meet your need? Again, a straight stitch is all you really truly need, but with the zigzag, you've got a lot more choices and the sky's kind of the limit. As I said in the last video, when it comes to the stitches, know what you use. The number one concern for any person using the sewing machine is look for that perfect straight stitch. Make sure it doesn't wibble-wobble back and forth, that it is perfectly straight, and that it's easy to adjust the tension to get it to the perfect straight stitch for you, for the type of sewing you're doing, whether it's on lightweight cottons, like a quilter, or on heavy fleece for my sewers, make sure you're getting the one that does a really good straight stitch. You also, on some machines, especially on the computerized ones, have the option of being able to alter stitches or create stitches, as if there aren't enough. It is an option, though, and my engineers out there and the techies absolutely love this feature. It's something you'll pay for, but if it's something you want and you will use, go for it. I know I'm able to do it, I've had the training on it, but it's just not something I choose to use, so to me, that was not an important feature. Let me break down real quickly what the different machines really do, what their advantages are. A mechanical machine. It's simplistic. It's less precise. You have to input the parameters. You have to know the setting to get the stitches you want. There are no help screens. There are fewer stitches on the machine. But there's less to go wrong, it's less expensive to repair. The needle will stop where it stops. You don't have the choice of needle up, needle down, so there are minimum options, but those mechanical machines are workhorses, and they will go well beyond 20 years. Electronic machines, they're going to be smoother and quieter. You'd be surprised how noisy a sewing machine can be as you're working, and you get very in tune to that noise. So the electronics are smoother and quieter. They offer more options, more stitches. You have speed, control, and stability. They're digital. Mostly fingertip operation. They will come up with suggested settings for you or default settings for most stitches. They're very precise, and as I said, they may have help screens. May or may not, depends on the machine. Moving up to the computerized machine. They are going to have everything that the electronic machines have, because they are, indeed, electronic. They just have that additional capability of storing your data and saving your data. You will have absolute total control over everything with a computerized machine. You will have the capability to do embroidery, if you choose to add the module. Some come with the embroidery and are billed as a sewing and embroidery machine. Others, you have to buy the module. They will, indeed, have help screens. They will usually have built-in videos. They will have more capability, frankly, than you will ever, ever use, but it's there if you want it. So now, before you get to the dealer and get carried away in that showroom, just like with a new car, I'm gonna give you some homework to do. The first thing I want you to do is take a pen and paper with you and go out and ask others what they like best about their machine. Now, keep in mind, a lot of people have brand loyalty, and that's what the machine manufacturers are counting on, that you're gonna fall in love with the first machine and be hooked and become, for instance, a Pfaffie for life, as we call the Pfaff owners. So brand loyalty can influence opinions, personal preferences can influence that opinion, and different needs. The person you talked to you may have entirely different needs than you. I still want you to talk to them, and I want you to listen for trends. ask them specifically what they like about their machine and why, not just, "Oh, I love my Pfaff." Why do you love it? What feature do you like the best? Why do you like that feature? And keep asking why until you're satisfied with the answers. As you can see, machine dealers are proud of their product, and they put out a lot of brochures. They aren't all glamor and glitz. There is a lot of educational information in these brochures. Get them, take them home, pore over them, compare them, read them, do your research on the internet. You'll also find on the back of some manufacturer's brochures, and it depends on the manufacturer, it also depends on which brochure, because they will sometimes have several different brochures for the same machine, or for that line of machines. There will be several lines. The entry-level, the midline, the upper line, et cetera. And they will usually have a comparison chart between the models within that line, so you can see, as you move up, there's gonna be more check marks, and you can go over and see exactly what the check marks are related to. Very very good thing for comparison. The biggest thing I can tell you is take your time. When I bought my first embroidery machine, I'd walked into the dealer, I was wowed with it, I was blown away, but I was smart enough to walk away. I got the brochures. I pored over those brochures for nine months before I bought my baby, and I'm glad I did, because it gave me time to go back several times and test it, it gave me a chance to ask a lot of questions, and then, when I bought it, I was very comfortable that that was the right machine and I was spending my money correctly. So take your time, prepare questions for the dealer, and in the next session I'm gonna show you how to have a good test drive.