Which machine sewed which stitches?
 

Can you tell - just by looking - what machine sewed which straight stitches?

For example, are the straight stitches from a new, top of the line, Bernina much nicer than the stitches from a low-end Brother or Singer purchased from a "big-box" store.

All of my machines are at least 30 years old - so if there have been major changes in what the straight stitches look like, I am not aware of them.

I don't believe that is something that anyone can do. I think sometimes the prettiest stitches I get are from either my vintage machines or my straight stitch only machine.

Straight stitch only machines do make the nicest stitches. My husband (the mechanical type) says that it's because they are made to basically do only one thing and they do it very well. I have an older top of the line (at the time) Bernina and while it does a ton of nice stuff and is still my go-to machine for lots of things, it really doesn't have as nice a straight stitch as my 301.

Personally, if the tensions are spot on,needle sharp, thread in top & bobbin in sync, lint free bobbin area, the stitch will be the same on an oldie or a new sewing machine....jmho!

Straight stitch for most new machines now are slightly angled, not perfectly straight.

i've seen good stitches on low end machines and poor stitches on top of the line

That's an optical illusion based on how the stitch is formed and what type of thread is being used. it's more pronounced on a zig zag machine than a straight stitch machine, and it's common to all ages of machines not just new ones.
I maintain and service my own machines and will put the stitches from most of my machines up against any high end new machine. Even my low end Juki 27 makes stitches just as nice as my BFFs high end Brother.

Cari

If you are talking sewing on quilting type fabric (cotton woven lighter weight) then no- any decent machine with tension and pressure adjusted correctly, with the correct needle should form a nice stitch. (IMO, quilting cotton fabric is the easiest fabric to sew on).

Now, if you start talking knits, silk, heavy weight fabric . . ., then I've seen many, many low end machines that just can't do it well. With knits, I've seen many high end vintage machines that can't handle it well, but they were not built to sew fabric like that.

My old Singer Quantum has perfectly straight stitches. The repair guy was amazed at how straight the stitches were. He said that model isn't even listed anywhere. I got it as a special buy when the Quantums first came out. Only a small quantity made. The next batch had different features and didn't sew the same to me. I can't buy the bobbins made for it anymore. The newer Quantums have different bobbins. I did buy a lot of extras when I found they were getting hard to find. Love this machine.

hands down when sewing through really thick layers, my vintage Kenmore makes the nicest straight stitches of any of my machines followed by my vintage White. For sewing through just two layers of quilting fabric like when piecing, the winner is my featherweight, followed by my sort of vintage Brother VX560.

My PQ 1500s excels at FMQ as does my Brother VX560, both are easy to get tension just right when FMQ. For accurate 1/4 inch seams I use the PQ or the featherweight since they are SS only with center needle position and narrow feed dogs. The Kenmore or the Brother VX560 are left homing needles so they make beautiful stitches, but it's a little harder to be consistent with seam width on anything narrower than 3/8"

both th of my modern machines (the PQ1500s and the PC420PRW) make very nice SS, but even when tension is perfect, they just aren't as pretty as the ones my vintage machines make.

Rob