Quiltingboard Forums - Encouragement

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I've been quilting for over 35 yrs. and stopped counting the quilts when I hit 300. i'm telling you this because I always used a cheapo machine. my machine I use now cost about $299.99. I never could afford an expensive one, and wouldn't pay for one now. think back to the olden days, most of those were made by hand. she doesn't need an expensive machine. she needs more fabric.

I started with a Brother HS-2000 and quilted everything right up to twin sized quilts on it. It worked fantastic and I still love it! I have a Laura Ashley NX-2000 now which was designed for quilters and that's my new primary machine, but I still use the HS-2000 for traveling because it's really light, but will sew through denim layers easily! Good luck!

High end machines are nice, but quite honestly you only need a machine with straight stitch capabilities to successfully complete a quilt. I am sewing on a Brother Embroidery\Sewing machine I only paid $400.00. This is my third sewing machine. It is a great, easy to operate machine. Since she is just beginner I would encourage her to begin with a simple, easy to operate machine. Technology is great, but sometimes with high tech comes high frustration.

Has her friend led her to believe she can not be successful unless she has the big ticket machine? Some seamstress can become quite opinionated regarding their toys. Go shopping together, evaluate how often you will actually use those bells and whistles when sewing. Purchase the best machine you can afford and use the leftover money to build your stash.

I have seen all kinds of good advice on this entry on today's forum, and have run the gamut of feelings of how much your wife really wants to be a quilter. I give quilting lessons, and can tell after the first lesson if the student will become a quilter, or not. Everyone's advice is spot-on....be as patient with her as you already have been. I have shopped many a time with my husband's "grouchy face" behind me, so at least she is not dealing with that frustration as she pursues a habit that can become the best thing that has ever happened to her. And CL and Ebay are good advice for finding a good machine; my advice would be a vintage straight stitch Singer or clone (looks be damned); and once she masters that, many of the new ones are so noisy that she will not even want to see it demonstrated at the store. Quiet is important to me, and many of the old Singers just whisper when they are stitching.....Good luck to both of you in this pursuit, and keep us posted on what happens.

Fiddlesticks! I don't know why people think they have to own a high end machine to sew mostly straight seams. There are some bells and whistles, like needle down, that are nice but many of us sewed many a quilt when we turned the hand crank on the right hand side of the machine to get the needle in the fabric before we pressed the foot or knee pedal or, if the machine was really old, started treadling. Everyone--except me--on this board is crazy for a Featherweight, which sews only forward and backward.

Wal Mart sells Brother machines, some with decorative stitches (not embroidery) at a very reasonable price. Or go to a dealer and see what he/she has in trade in.

And you mght remind your wife that until very recent history, using a machine for any phase of quilting was verboten. Everything had to be done by hand. Froggyintexas

Quote:

Originally Posted by enderwiggen (Post 6392913)

Hi,
I'll start out and say I'm not a quilter, nor do I intend to be one. I'm posting for help for my wife. She recently started quilting with a friend and has become addicted. She has been using her friend's machine (a very VERY nice one from what I hear) and is now discouraged from starting to quilt on her own. We don't have the finances to acquire a machine of the caliber that she has been using (several thousand dollars), and she is now saying that she doesn't want to do it at all since we can't afford the machine her friend has at home.

My question is: how can I encourage her? I want her to continue since it makes her happy, but she seems convinced that she can't sew without a high end machine. I know nothing about sewing machines, but I do know that there has to be some sort of machine that can do the basics (which is her skill level at the moment). There's surely some sort of machine that can support her new interest and carry her through until we CAN afford a nice machine.

I would really appreciate some advice on this. I want her to continue quilting but I need advice on how to keep her going until we can afford something really nice. Is there something she could start on and step up to another machine later? I'm out of my depth here.

"she is now saying that she doesn't want to do it at all since we can't afford the machine her friend has at home." Wow! I missed that when I read it the first time. If my husband ever told me that he didn't want to do a hobby because we couldn't afford to buy him the top of the line equipment to start out, I'd probably say a "I guess you aren't going to be doing that then" LOL. I didn't even get away with that kind of manipulation when I was a kid!

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrapnut (Post 6395925)

I would like to echo this observation. I have been in classes with others who have very hi-tech machines that have kept them busy most of the class figuring out how to use, instead of working on their project. A basic machine which works well, has a few features and doesn't run away with her would be the way to go IMHO.

Here's another thing to think about. The more simple the machine, the less trouble to maintain. I've got a painter's brush that I pick up lint with. I've got magnetic bowls for my pins and a telescoping magnetic pin-picker-upper that I don't have to keep away from my machine. I don't have to worry about electrical storms. I don't leave my machine plugged in during a storm, but I don't have to panic is it was left plugged in. Many high end machines must be protected from electrical storms/

So a simple machine not only works quite well for me, I don't have to baby the thing.

I have one of those high end machines purchased in 1997. It has all the bells and whistles, most of which I never learned to do. It also does fancy embroidery, and I didn't learn that either. Aa few months ago it quit on me. The dealer repairman didn't even want to look at it because he said parts were not available. So, I took it somewhere else. That repair man put a fuse in and it worked fine for about two months. It quit again. Good thing I had my mechanical machines that always serve me well. I miss the needle down function but at least the mechanical machines are dependable and reliable so I'm not dead in the water. When my husband has time he will check out my computerized machine. I don't want to keep paying repair men to change the fuse. Something has to be causing it to blow. So -I am very grateful to have the mechanical machines!! They are work horses.