Ar-r-r-g
 

I have been frantically trying to finish some plush ponies for Christmas and accidently ran over too many pins with my Husquevarna AGAIN and threw it out of alignment AGAIN. The Husky is a great machine except for the pin issue which is starting to cost $$$ in shop visits. My fallback is my daughter's low-end Brother, which clatters like an old jalopy, has no torque for thick bunches of fabric and no thread cutter. Last time I shopped for a machine, I only found Cadillacs and Yugos, with no mid-price Toyotas. Does any one have any suggestions for a reasonably priced machine that is still reliable? I don't care about any fancy embroidry features.

I love my Juki TL98QE and Babylock Jane - Had the Juki for 4 years and no service - yet. Had the Babylock for 2-1/2 Years no service for it either - yet. They are straight stitch only machine, all I use.

You have to remember that with any computerized machine you chance throwing the timing out if you hit a pin.

sorry -- but the best remedy is to remove pins before you get to them! it is dangerous and never a good idea to run over pins- regardless of what machine you are using- no point buying a new machine if you are going to continue to do the same thing over & over.

I'm not sure of the model, but Pfaff has a machine on sale through December for $599. If you have a dealer close you might check with them. That seems like a reasonable price and looked like a nice machine when I glanced at it at my dealers. I'm not in the market so I didn't look very close.

Yes you simply must break yourself of the habit of sewing over pins. Very bad for your machine (any machine) and dangerous for you, if you hit one just right and it breaks, it could fly into your eye.

So, true! Happened to me, but I was wearing my glasses, luckily!

Sorry - I'm on the other side of the tracks here - I sew over pins all the time. Worst (fortunately) that has happened to me is a broken needle. I use a Viking Platinum - about 10+ yrs. old. Viking came out with a 'new' machine a few months ago that, if I remember correctly, was relatively reasonable - $800 ish. There have been a couple of threads on this machine. I know member twoxover purchased it and, as far as I know, is quite happy with it. You might want to do a search on her threads to find out the model of the machine. Otherwise, let me know and I'll do some searching for you. Since you already have a Viking.

I bought the Singer 160 Anniversary Edition from HSN about 3 months ago and I love it. It came with a lot of attachments and runs like a top. I paid about $329 if my memory is correct.

Both my Bernina and Viking have never caused me a problem when I sewed over a pin. Now, my Bernina and 40 wt. thread is a different horse altogether.

My 18 year old Bernina 1031 gives me no problems sewing over pins. I'd highly recommend a vintage Bernina mechanical (not a computerized) machine. They are truly workhorses, sew those heavy seams, are still made in Europe, and do not require you to buy expensive feet if you find one with all its parts and don't need it for specialized sewing. My current 18 year old machine finally went in for cleaning and routine maintenance after 8 years just because I was going to spend a week in the area where the best repair person worked! It was fine before and it's still fine now.

Jan in VA

I had to start taking out the pin before I reached it in the sewing path to stop problems.
margaret

In the early 70's I had a Singer that I always ran over pins with and had no problems. You have to be more careful with the newer machines(how did I learn that?) one guess
margaret

I love the old Singers. They sew forever if you keep them oiled. The 201 sews through muiltiple layers of thick fabric and is a real workhorse. I think I found mine for $30, maybe less.

Perhaps this would be a good time to experiment using Elmer's Washable School Glue in place of pins.

Meanwhile, if you don't care about the age of your machine, I'd recommend buying one of my old workhorse: a 1965/1966 Elna Supermatic. I see them occasionally on ebay for around $200. I used my Elna until a couple of years ago when I bought my Sweet Sapphire 875Q.

The Elna Super is mechanical, made of metal, and was made in Switzerland. It has cams which enable you to do all the (then) modern stretch stitches! I tried not to, but it would sew over pins quite nicely in case one was left in the fabric. Of course, even then, it was a "No No" to sew over pins. :)

Poor machine :(

I agree. It's best to just remove the pins as you come to them. Not good for any machine.

I don't own a machine that won't plow right over pins. Still a bad idea, and hard on the machine. When your needle hits a pin, it dulls it. When you sew with a dull needle, it causes problems. A slightly bent needle can cause damage to your hook. And you still risk injury to yourself. Is it really worth an eye?

I can't suggest a machine but I can make a couple alternative suggestions ....

I personally am NOT going to remove pins before they reach my needle. Call me lazy ... whatever.

I found three solutions to it though.

SLOW DOWN! The biggest problem with sewing over pins is that you are going to fast when you sew over them. If you slow your machine down you have far less chance of a problem.

Another solution is that I use very long pins and when I insert them I make sure the tip of the pin is outside of my 14" seam line. The pin doesn't have to be all the way to the edge when you sew.

Lastly, there is the glue stick. Run it along the edge of your fabric. Works great. But if you lay it on too wide (past the 1/4" seam line) then it's harder to open the fabric to press the seam. Not *hard*, but an extra step to make sure you have the seam fully open before you press.

I always pinned my fabric when I made clothes, and I have made lots of clothes in the last 50 years. (Is it possible that it has been that long!!!) I was really amazed 3 years ago when I started quilting and realized that pins are not used by quilters, or not much...or at least that is what I was told, as I took a beginning quilt class. It was a whole new learning curve for me. But then the 1/4 inch seam was a new idea to me too. :)

I have learned to not use pins and the 1/4 inch foot makes sure I get the seam right too. But it wasn't easy!

Dina

I don't know who told you quilters don't use pins? I use pins all the time. And any quilter I sew with uses them frequently.

I love my Janome!!

I have an old Singer and it sews over pins = no problems. I never heard of taking pins out til the new computerized machines....I'm glad that i can sew over them, since pins hold my seams together.

Whats your price range, i would go juki they have the strongest motors, but i have to say my cadillac the brother dreamweaver can handle anything you throw at it, and has been so amazing, nothing like it

I love the machine I use the most, my old Brother Pacesetter 1250. Never thought I'd say that, as I used to be a diehard Singer fan. But I found this machine at a yard sale for $10 with a nice plastic case (case was worth more than that!) and it needed a power cord/foot pedal and a bobbin cover plate. Hmm, it might not even run...but it turned well and looked like new. Why not? Well, I'm also a diehard bargain shopper, and offered $5 just in case it didn't work, and she said YES! Wow, what a deal! I took it to my local parts/repair shop and he had a cord he let me have for FREE! Turns out the only one he had was one he had to splice and he wouldn't charge me for it, no danger - he just didn't think it was right to charge me. And the plastic replacement cover for the bobbin space was only $4. I bought a bag of bobbins for $6 (partly cause I felt a little guilty getting a working machine for so cheap, lol) which meant a perfectly working machine for about $10 total. Wait, there's more - the absolute best part is I have learned how to set the timing when I do knock it out of time. That's the reason I own 23 assorted machines in various states of disrepair - to learn how to work on them. I try not to be so hard on it, but occasionally my projects can be a little, ahem, difficult.... But the first time it happened I really didn't have a lot to lose, so why not try and fix it. I now can fix it in just a few minutes with a few turns of the allen wrench. Love this machine and the ease in fixing it.

The Pfaff Ambition Essential is about $599 right now, I would buy one of them if I really needed a new machine, but I just bought a Nolting longarm so no more machines.

Why not look out for an old singer at cheap prices, yard sale etc. we have second hand shops which sometimes sell old machines. I have just purchased a featherweight singer to take to classes. Only goes forwards and backwards but it is light weight which is what I wanted and robust.

I rarely use pins! Don't need to use them for the most part. only use them when I am adding borders on a top.

I have been looking at the Juki at allbrands.com. I recently bought a Juki serger that is wonderful. Here's a link to the page of Jukis.

http://www.allbrands.com/categories/2512

My goodness, you have received as many comments on what not to do with your sewing machine than you have on your original question...I would look at the Kenmore. I had one for many years, before I got my Viking embroidery machine, and it would sew anything.. Good Luck..

Pfaffs don't like pins,either. Ask how I know.

I use to sew over pins but no more. Several years ago I hit a pin and it broke and the point flew up and hit me just under my eye. Think about it!!!!!!!!

Couldn't agree more, besides the safety issue NO machine will stand that sort of use.

I use "silk" pins when I really want a seam to match. They are so thin that I have never had a problem sewing over them with my Vikng Rose. I'm a perfectionist, so I pin & pull the glass head pins right before getting to them.

It's been said all ready, but I'll say it again: glue, glue, glue!!! As long as it's Elmer's washable school glue. You'll wonder why you didn't switch years ago.

You can throw any machine out of alignment for hitting pin. I have a Husky that is almost 20 years old and the only thing that has gone wrong with it is once the bobbin case had to be replaced. I think it would be cheaper to just pull the pins out. :)

My experience has been that you can sew over pins if you want, but you run the risk of throwing your machine out of time and it is expensive to have to run it to the shop (100 miles away) to get it fixed so I really try to be very careful about sewing over pins, since I have had to take my 10 year old Pfaff in twice for that very issue.

I agree with using the school glue, but I sew over pins all the time. I try to take them out, but there is always one I didn't see in there somewhere. I put the pins in so that only the point is in the seam allowance, but once in a while I have sewn right through the middle of a pin and it came out bent in half. Didn't seem to hurt my machine any. I don't remember doing that with my computerized Bernina, though. That's good. I'll try not to.

They have Juki's on hsn.com on flex pay.

C'mon guys
 

I only sew with pins when working with curves, and yes I do slow down unless I am in a hurry to finish a project and get excited. In this case, I was working with narrow satin ribbon which gets all goopy with glue. My Husky worked perfectly for 10 years until the last six months when I made the same mistake twice. Yard sales and the old mechanicals are a good idea. Where do you put that allen wrench?