Friday 15 March 2013

Rediscovering my Brother PX110 sewing machine

For the past 2 years I haven't sewn a single thing on my Brother PX110 sewing machine since getting very irritated with the tension settings.

My mum purchased a Janome SL30X machine, so I was able to jump on and finish a few projects without getting too annoyed with the machine settings. The more I used the Janome the more I loved sewing with its computerised features; the tension auto adjusts to any material you pop under the presser foot, the speed is controlled by a slider on the machine rather than your foot on the foot pedal. These little features help to make each stitch feel easier and projects to feel very manageable.

Since moving out of my parents and getting my own flat I lost access to the beloved Janome. I started searching high an low for the same model to buy, but it was a special edition and the nearest model was £300, over my budget!

On Saturday I grudgingly travelled back to my flat with my old sewing machine, Brother PX110, in the boot of my car. After realising how much I wanted to start sewing my own clothes again and not being able to afford the machine I wanted I decided to give my old machine one last whirl before listing it on eBay, so I could afford a fancy new machine.

Armed with some thread and a fabric scrap, I went back to sewing basics and relied upon my instruction manual to give the machine a service so it would be okay for the new owner.

I cleaned out the bobbin shuttle and feed dogs, removed the covers and oiled the machine and gave it a good high speed run without any thread. When I threaded up the machine, snapped a new needle into position and set the tension and stitch settings as instructed in the manual I finally began to sew...

I couldn't stop.....

I dug out a summer dress I started 2 years ago and set about finishing it off, on my lovely Brother PX110 machine.

Okay it isn't computerised like the fancy Janome, but knowing exactly what effect each dial has on the stitches made is very liberating. Rediscovering what my machine can actually do, through the simple act of reading the manual, has got me quite excited for future projects.

Watch this space for the beginnings of a handmade wardrobe.

What machine do you use? What features do you find the most useful on your machine?

Thank you xx



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