Recommend a good entry level sewing machine

[gnihcraes]

I've got an old RICCAAR machine ? around here somewhere.. we've had it for years, it's the Mother in laws. Wonder if I can sneak it out and be rid of it. sucker is heavy, has to be all metal bits.

[Great-Kazoo]

I've got an old RICCAAR machine ? around here somewhere.. we've had it for years, it's the Mother in laws. Wonder if I can sneak it out and be rid of it. sucker is heavy, has to be all metal bits.

Perhaps the location is on your tablets inventory



I'm leaning towards this unit.

http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/app/5539790668.html

To me buying a piece of equipment is like buying a vehicle (motorcycle, truck, etc) Documentation, owners manual, personal history all factor towards their "value" .

For $100 with the accessories, owners manual table, basically a turn key operation.
All i want it for is hemming pants. At an average of $13-15 per with a 1-2 Week wait IF they actually return your call. Why Not.

[TheGrey]

Okay, I've taken a close look at that CL ad, and noted the accessories that come with it. What I'm NOT seeing is the foot pedal; contact the owner and ask him if the foot pedal is there, and just wasn't photographed or was lost among the accessories. The cabinet is a nice inclusion.

Bring a chunk of jeans fabric if you have any, and try it out. Be sure to try the straight stitch, the zigzag, and the reverse. The number of accessories and dials look very promising. You're going to need to change out the needle if you buy it; Amazon has far better deals on needles than the fabric stores. You'll also want to use new thread. Don't mess with the tension dials! I'll look online and see what I can find out about this machine.

Singer Heavy Duty machines like you see at Joann's aren't worth it. Plastic and nylon gears, cheaply made crap.

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Okay, I've been looking online and there's not a whole lot of information on this machine. It was made between 1962 and 1967, but I can't find much else about it to see if it takes special bobbins or has had tension issues.

[Circuits]

Plastic and nylon gears, cheaply made crap.

Well-noted. Plastic and nylon were both cheaper, and prone to breakage (hopefully, after new mfg warranty was expired). It was the quintissentially American answer to durable machines on the used market eating into new-machine sales figures. For decades, Singer would buy back all used machines under contract, in order to rework them in their shops, or destroy, or at their discretion refit, in order to preserve new-machine and and new-model sales. With the polymer revolution, the idea was that something essential would break after the initial warranty was expired, such that they could fuck you on the repair, or hit you for a new machine.

Economics is not about fairness, it's about tolerable cruelty.