Sewing Machine Buying Guide

Buying a sewing machine can be a confusing process, but if you know what you are looking for, there are a wide variety of machines available, both new, & second hand, which will fit most people's home sewing needs. For those who want to do industrial sewing, there are an enormous number of vintage industrial sewing machines in the U.S.A., available for sale, as well, you just need to consider what you want to sew, how often you will sew, and how much space you have to set up your sewing area, and store your machine, when it is not in use.

Kenmore 1753 one of my "KEEP IT FOREVER" favorite machines

Clothing or Hobby Sewing- Sew for fun, not out of necessity, maybe only quilting, maybe just clothing, or just home decor. While sewing clothing can be done on nearly any sewing machine, the type of fabrics you plan to sew, can make a difference in which machine will fulfill your needs better.  

Business Sewing- Sewing for a living, alterations shop, dressmaker, tailor, you need higher speed sewing machines to enable you to produce high quality sewing, at high speeds. Specialized machines, for certain tasks, can be essential to profitability, from sergers & overlock machines, safety stitch, to high speed straight stitch, or zigzag machines, walking foot machine (difficult or heavy fabrics), blind hemmer, special buttonholer machines, bartack machines (like for jeans, tote bags, heavy duty duffel bags, sports equipment, luggage, & more), are examples of possible sewing machine heads required for this type of business sewing. Clutch motors, or servo motors, are necessary for most high speed industrial sewing machines.

Sewing Machine Collector- May not sew, just enjoys collecting, & showing off vintage machines, obviously would vary according to the collector's taste!

Commercial Sewing- upholstery, car interior, boat interior, RV interiors, boat covers, lawn mower covers, books, and also bag closers, this type of sewing calls for at least an all metal sewing machine, but really a heavy duty sewing machine. Some metal machines from the 1970's and 1980's, can sew some of these materials, a small amount, but if you want to do a lot of heavy fabric sewing, I recommend a walking foot machine, or a roller foot machine, preferrably with a clutch motor, or servo motor, though some machines do best with a hand crank, or treadle.

New machine? Vintage sewing machine? If you want all kinds of fancy stitches, and specialty buttonholes, it might seem like a new computerized sewing machine is your only choice, but many vintage sewing machines are available, which have either built in stitch cams, or take a variety of stitch cams, allowing you to sew beautiful decorative stitches, even with a vintage sewing machine. Personally, I adore the Elna Supermatic, which has over 160 separate stitch cams available, as well as many Sears Kenmore sewing machines which can take up to 45 different stitch cams, and several of the all metal vintage Singer sewing machines actually take a variety of stitch cams, including some of the straight stitch Singer's, which are sometimes over 100 years old, can sew up to 20 zigzag stitches, using a zigzagger attachment, and cast aluminum stitch cams! If you only want a few stitch designs, the model you choose just needs to have built in cams for the stitches you want to sew, not necessarily accept changeable cams.

Some of my favorite vintage sewing machines (preferrably pre 1990's) with built in cams, include the Bernina zigzag models, Pfaff's German manufactured zigzag sewing machines (230, 260, 330, 360) Montgomery Ward's badged sewing machines, Sears Kenmore's badged zigzag machines, White, JC Penney's badged machines, New Home, Singer (400 to low 600 series, with the metal gears, not plastic ones),

Buttonholers that attach to low shank sewing machines, are one of my favorite tools for buttonholes, especially the Singer & Sears Kenmore metal buttonholers, which take a variety of cast aluminum cams, which allow you to sew several stitch styles & sizes, without needing to constantly remeasure, and worry about how stitches will turn out. The low shank buttonholer attachments can be adjusted to make a machine stitched buttonhole look like an expensive hand stitched couture buttonhole.

There are many folders, binders, feet & attachments for most sewing machines, available, if you know which specific shank type your sewing machine requires. These specialty feet & attachments can make difficult, time consuming sewing chores, much faster, more accurate, and more professional looking. If you will be sewing a lot of specialty items, that call for cording, binding, tiny rolled hems, ruffles, piping, and similar decor, it really is worth buying & using the correct foot, and/or attachment, to make it faster & easier. There are many videos online, showing how to use the various presser feet, attachments and accessories, which can be an excellent way to learn to use them. Some sewing machine manufacturers have their own website with videos, and instructions to help you learn to use them properly, as well as tutorials & ideas for special projects, to help you learn to use these tools.

For home machines, anyone who wants to sew a lot of lightweight fabrics, especially any silky, or fine fabrics, will often find their sewing goes more smoothly if they use a straight stitch needle plate, or sewing machine, to avoid the needle pushing the fabric down into the feed dogs & bobbin hook.  Some machines have both a straight stitch needle plate, and a zigzag needle plate, others have an additional darning plate, if their feed dogs do not drop, for free motion embroidery, or darning.  Many vintage sewing machines came with several special needle plates, so for serious sewing, it may be worth choosing one of these vintage machines, which has all of the accessories, with it.

(I will be adding to this blog, possibly editing it, over time, feel free to check back later, for more information & photos!)

Bernina sewing machine p0resser feet & attachment accessories, for the older model Bernina's from the 530 to the 1640.