Are there sewing machines with a 'real' regulated stitch?
#1
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3,334
I've been machine quilting a lap quilt for my great niece. I have difficulty moving the quilt at the same speed to get a nice even stitch length. I know there are long arm machines that have stitch regulators.... the ones that stitch the same stitch length no matter how fast or slow you move the machine. I know that Viking had a machine that said it had a stitch regulator but when I checked that one out.... it didn't really stitch the same length stitches like a long arm.
So I'm curious, do any of you know of a machine that does real stitch regulation?
So I'm curious, do any of you know of a machine that does real stitch regulation?
#5
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Outer Space
Posts: 9,319
Originally Posted by nanna-up-north
Is it a true stitch regulator.... can you sew fast and slow and get the same stitch length? I'm excited now... may have to look into a new machine.
#6
Originally Posted by nanna-up-north
Is it a true stitch regulator.... can you sew fast and slow and get the same stitch length? I'm excited now... may have to look into a new machine.
#7
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Iowa
Posts: 816
The Bernina Stitch Regulator comes with the 440QE, but it is also available for other machines. I only got the 430, and it was offered as an add on for my machine (for less than the 440 cost).
I actually decided not to go with it, and just going from my low end Kenmore to my 430 has made my FMQ so much nicer. I never have problems with my bottom stitches anymore, though my stitches still aren't always perfectly even. I figure I need practice more than I need regulation! (It is a pretty expensive foot...)
I did play with it for awhile in the store, and thought the BSR did a really nice job- I just couldn't justify the cost.
I actually decided not to go with it, and just going from my low end Kenmore to my 430 has made my FMQ so much nicer. I never have problems with my bottom stitches anymore, though my stitches still aren't always perfectly even. I figure I need practice more than I need regulation! (It is a pretty expensive foot...)
I did play with it for awhile in the store, and thought the BSR did a really nice job- I just couldn't justify the cost.
#8
Bernina has something they call a BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) as an option for some of their high end machines. Viking/Husqvarna had a gizmo they called a fabric mover.
Those are the only 2 I know of that were actually produced in mass quantities. At one time, there was a company testing a gizmo that mounted on the sewing machine and you ran your thread through it. It would then try to control how much thread was allowed out to control stitch length. I don't know what happened to that company or even remember the name of the gizmo.
Stitch regulators are a fairly new gizmo. On a frame, they work by regulating the speed of the machine compared to the speed at which you are moving the carriage the machine sits on.
The only way I know of to regulate a sit-down machine is to regulate your own speed. Let off the foot pedal when going around curves or coming up on a point--just like driving a car for me anyway--I like to take curves as fast as I can without using the brakes. I actually ran my domestic machine on a frame by taping the foot pedal to the handles of the carriage and regulated my own speed. I got pretty good at it too but it took practice, practice, practice. That is why longarmers are still in business. It just takes more practice and trial & error (lots of trial & error) to learn how to do it. Also, the older longarms don't have stitch regulators either so they learned how to be their own regulators. Where there's a will, there's a way!
Those are the only 2 I know of that were actually produced in mass quantities. At one time, there was a company testing a gizmo that mounted on the sewing machine and you ran your thread through it. It would then try to control how much thread was allowed out to control stitch length. I don't know what happened to that company or even remember the name of the gizmo.
Stitch regulators are a fairly new gizmo. On a frame, they work by regulating the speed of the machine compared to the speed at which you are moving the carriage the machine sits on.
The only way I know of to regulate a sit-down machine is to regulate your own speed. Let off the foot pedal when going around curves or coming up on a point--just like driving a car for me anyway--I like to take curves as fast as I can without using the brakes. I actually ran my domestic machine on a frame by taping the foot pedal to the handles of the carriage and regulated my own speed. I got pretty good at it too but it took practice, practice, practice. That is why longarmers are still in business. It just takes more practice and trial & error (lots of trial & error) to learn how to do it. Also, the older longarms don't have stitch regulators either so they learned how to be their own regulators. Where there's a will, there's a way!
#10
I have a Bernina 430, and bought the BSR as an add-on. It works okay, but in the end I find my stitches without it almost as good. Even if you don't think your skills are good now, as you do more you get better.
Janet
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