Familiar with Necchi?
 

I recently started regularly quilting and have a Bernina Artista 180. My Aunt gave me my grandmother's Necchi 539 cabinet sewing machine and I'm trying to decide if I should keep it or sell it. Is anyone familiar with the Necchi brand?

Necchi was recently purchased by Janome. Now they look almost identical to the Janome. Dealers won't say that Janome now makes them, but if you look at the warranty card it says Janome. That's all I know about them.

If you have an older Necchi.... I think you're in luck! My Mom's old machine ran like a work horse through all 5 of us kids learning etc. Not sure who has it now, but I hope they're enjoying it! You could sew through leather on Mom's old machine.

Vintage Necchi machines are collector's items, depending on model. You might want to join the Necchi group on groups.yahoo.com to find out the value of your machine. They had very strong motors and were workhorses.

Can you post a picture? The numbers aren't familiar.

I've read about older necchis. They have reputations as great machines.

Hi! I have the Yahoo Necchi group. The 539 is a post-Italian model (we only discuss the vintage Italians). I don't know anything about these but a list member who worked for the Necchi distributor posted the following about it. (It comes up periodically on the list and at one point someone had one that said Made in Spain but this is the most we've ever been able to find about it):

"Actually the 538 & 539 Necchi models were not made in Italy. They were made in Japan and were probably the first Asian made machines with the Necchi brand. They were manufactured by a factory called Zenith Nito. They made a number of Necchi machines over the years.
At the time these were distributed dealers were asking for machines to fight off the inexpensive Japanese machines their competitors had. I've seen this model in the files here listed as Italian and I just wanted to set the record straight.As for the feet it takes a standard low-shank foot or accessories. These are available widely.The bobbin case is a standard 15 Class one also. If it falls out the only reason is you don't have it in properly so it locks onto the post of the shuttle hook. The 'finger' on the bobbin case must be at the top and go into the cut-out for it on the race cover."

This is a site I found that talks about his 539 and has pics....from the pic it looks like a standard Japanese model with the knob on the front of the bed that lowers the feed dogs.
http://possumjimandelizabeth.com/xht...ng_necchi.html

Hope that helps!

Not sure about this particular Necchi, but my old one can still go. I love it for heavy duty items as it has two strengths for the motor.

I recently inherited an older Necchi. LOVE it! Sews like it's being paid to! :thumbup:

Like mine cause it's easy to lower the feed dogs. Not all machines will let you do that.