marcycn

I started quilting in 2012. I spent a good portion of the first year watching YouTube videos, especially Jenny as I love her style and ease. My first quilts were nice but I found I had to tie them because I couldn't use my Singer Confidence Quilter. It just wasn't equipped to make quilting easy. It had a deep throat but I just couldn't get the hang of it.

My next problem was the sewing. I couldn't do a straight line to save my life. Quilting blocks in the ditch was more tear out than leave alone. The length of the stitch was so tiny, even though I had it set to the highest length, that tearing out was not fun.

All this made my quilting time unpleasant. I had wanted to quilt all my life - use to sew all my own clothes in the 60's - but never had the room where I could just let a project sit until I got back to it. Now that I live alone and my time and space is my own, my back gives me trouble and it's tough to quilt for more than 15 - 30 minutes at a time without retreating to my LazyBoy.

Anyway, the point I want to make is all machines are not alike. I got so fed up with the Singer that when a deal came along last month for up to 50 percent off machines I got the credit card out and bought a Janome. $500 for $300. It doesn't have the wide throat but it has all the fancy stitches.

I sat down to sew a quilt that I had put together where the points had a lot of material all coming together and it had to be added to the next row. I use to fight and fight with my Singer to go over this wad and my new Janome just glided over it like it was nothing! I was shocked and delighted. My seams are straight now, the stitch length is whatever I choose and there is no stretching when putting two squares together. After some 75 quilts and lots of door hangings and table runners and toppers and 16 baby quilts I finally find myself happy in my master bedroom turned craft room!

The point I'm wanting to make is that your machine really does make the difference in the ease and pleasure of your sewing. Make darn sure you get the right one first. My Janome cost less than my Singer did and it was on sale when I bought it. :-) If I could afford it I would have gone for a more upscale brand, but from what I'm experiencing, Janome is a step above the Singer and I'm happy.