Bought a New Machine

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Went a little crazy on Tuesday.  I needed a spool of white upholstery thread for my boat cushion project for the Chamber of Commerce President and called my guy that I buy thread from.  He is in Minneapolis for the week but asked me if I knew his son who owns a sewing machine/vacumm business.  I take my machines there and we traded our old Kirby in for a newer model early Spring so I know him well.  Ron said that Trent sells upholstery thread as well so I told him no problem, that I would head over to Trent's.  I got there and Trent was playing with a machine.  I went over and told him what I needed and while he was in their back room getting it, I started checking out this machine.  It is incredible!  It's a Bernina, something like a B450 but not sure of the model number without going to their web site.

Anyway, it does standard sewing (comes with a great assortment of feet), an optional embroidery attachment and an optional quilting attachment -- complete with speed regulator.   I've been a Singer girl my entire life but the newer Singer's have plastic components (mine is the last model to consist of metal innerds) but it's well over 20 years old and there are things it doesn't handle well.  I hate working with blue jeans and coat zippers because it has low clearance.  It's got an embroidery attachment but one very small hoop only so I can't do bigger designs on it.  The arm is too close to the machine head to be able to comfortably quilt queen/king size quilts (quilting is my one real passion but I don't have enough time to do it as much as I would like).  I have a janome that is dedicated embroidery but I fight with tension isuses a lot on it and I'm starting to do a lot more embroidery jobs.  I confess the price took me a back a bit but Saturday Bernina is having their once a year up to 4 years to make payments with no interest charges.  Still, a lot of money but I was seriously drooling.  Also, he's overrun with trade-ins right now so he is giving trade-in price but you keep your machine(s).  That piqued my interest for sure.  Talked about what all it can do with Trent and told him that even though it is for my business I still won't lay down that amount of change without talking to my husband about it.  Bob and I talked about it when I got home.  He understood that Sew & Sew needs a new play toy and seriously that's a nice business deduction through it's depreciable life.  So I went back yesterday and filled out the credit app and could actually get their take-your-breath away model but that is way more money than I wanted to spend.  So I got the model that Trent was playing with which is all I need and want.  Still have to go in on Saturday and sign the paperwork as it's a one-day sale.  Machine(s) are on order and should be in by Tuesday at the latest so I expect that they will delivery towards the end of next week.  I plan on taking in all three of my machines for service and then trying to sell locally and apply the money towards my new machine.  Also my quilting machine is mounted on a king-size quilting frame so getting that out of Sew & Sew would free up a lot of space and not have it look so crowded in here.

Now, I'm very much looking forward to that bad boy being delivered.  Cannot believe how fast that little sucker will zip along : )

Gotta get after it.

Virginia   

[MinUph]

Congratulations Virginia,

  It's great to get a new machine, especially when you know how well it will do in your business. Good luck with it.

[Dede]

*drool*

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

*drool*

LOL,  that's the one.  I was drooling in the shop for sure.

Thanks for finding the image of it!

Virginia

[Dede]

If you right click >> View Image, you can see it in all its drool-worthy glory (something I learned here today!).

[byhammerandhand]

and if that's not enough, click CTRL and + until it zooms in

If you right click >> View Image, you can see it in all its drool-worthy glory (something I learned here today!).

[SteveA]

Best to you V
New toys are a tradespersons reason to smile !  I'd like to upgrade but afraid nothing will work as good as my 31-15 -
Truth is - too many choices out there for me - Enjoy Virginia !

My browser (Windows - MS ) doesn't have a View Image but Ctrl + is a great suggestion for viewing photos that don't open larger  - thanks

I need cliff notes to learn how to allow my photo to open larger from a Photo Bucket entry and also how to copy and paste another persons comment - 
SA

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

I'm very excited.  I ordered two optional feet for it.  One is the invisible zipper foot.  Lately, I've been putting in about one invisible zipper a week and truth be told, I'd rather put in an invisible zipper than a conventional.  Much easier once you know how to do it and the finished product is absolutely fabulous!  The other zipper is a cording foot.  She asked me what I was going to use it for as I think she remembered selling me my upholstery machine a few years back.  The fabric for the two long boat cushions I could go either way as far as which machine to sew it with.  Because I don't have a cording foot for my Singer, I'm using my upholstery machine but if I had my druthers, I would have used my Singer.  So, she ordered the largest cording foot which should allow me to have some flexibility on upholstery products with lighter weight fabric. 

As far as learning the machine, they have either 2 or 3 free classes to get you comfortable with it.  The first one is next Saturday and it is using the embroidery attachment.  I'm not sure if the second class is the following week or the week after and I believe that one is using the basic machine and all the fun stuff that it allows you to do.  I'm certainly hoping that they also have a segment on quilting with it.  Trent showed me some of the quilting motifs that come with the machine and then started quilting on several pieces of fabric pinned together.  Machine just zipped along and he had it closer to the turtle than the hare on the speed dial.  He went to straight stitch and let it loose and it rivals upholstery machines for speed.  Every stitch was absolutely perfect.  Just incredible.  Cannot wait to be able to start using it!  Until I'm comfortable with it, I'll keep my Singer set up and will also try to dedicate at least an hour a day to playing, err I mean learning about all of the different functions you have.  One thing that just cracks me up is that not only will the machine clip the thread, it ties the knot for you.  Incredible!

Virginia

[Darren Henry]

I need cliff notes to learn how to allow my photo to open larger from a Photo Bucket entry and also how to copy and paste another persons comment -

There is a very concise tutorial on posting pics at the top of the board here. Or drop me a PM if that doesn't help. Basically "copy" -url for clickable thumbs ( or words to that effect) and then "paste" directly into the frame as you are replying to a post.

Quotes; Highlight and copy what you want to show. Click on the icon second from the right,bottom row that with some imagination looks like a cartoon speak bubble 

.Place your cursor between the two inside ][ and paste.

[SteveA]

I need cliff notes to learn how to allow my photo to open larger from a Photo Bucket entry and also how to copy and paste another persons comment -

There is a very concise tutorial on posting pics at the top of the board here. Or drop me a PM if that doesn't help. Basically "copy" -url for clickable thumbs ( or words to that effect) and then "paste" directly into the frame as you are replying to a post.

Quotes; Highlight and copy what you want to show. Click on the icon second from the right,bottom row that with some imagination looks like a cartoon speak bubble 

.Place your cursor between the two inside ][ and paste.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Yesterday afternoon the sewing machine place called.  They had the paperwork ready for me to sign and also had already received their shipment of additional machines.  Still short the embroidery attachment, jumbo hoop and cording foot which will probably be in Monday or Tuesday.  So, I slipped over there yesterday afternoon and picked up the machine.

I erred.  It is a 750, not a 450.  Sadly, it is still in its shipping crate.  I brought it home but it was supper time by the time I got home.  After supper, we took Jimmy with us to go see Bob's mom at the Nursing Home.  It was close to 9 by the time we got home and I still had a little more organizing on the coffee table to do (I confess to being a horrible stacker).  I hope that once with get Jimmy and Stevie settled down this morning, I will have time to at least find the owner's manual as I could be reading up on the basics while baby-sitting "the kids".

Also, feel much better about spending as much money on it as I did.  When I brought the mail in yesterday afternoon, I had an envelope from the company that I had life insurance through on my last job.  I was the HR person and I asked our boss, when I was working up final paperwork on one of our employees, what happened to this guy's life insurance.  He told me that it was cancelled.  I told him that I understood that but was asking if there was any cash value.  Ryan told me that it was forfeited.  I never questioned it and should have called the company to verify but he was our VP and should have had the correct information.  Anyway, I opened up the envelope and it showed a fund balance and a cash value.  So, I decided to call the company and see what they were trying to tell me.  The rep started trying to explain how they would use the fund balance to make my premium payments which totally confused me.  When she stopped talking to take a breath, I told her that I no longer worked for the company that I had gotten the policy through and that I had no intention of making premiums out of pocket and that my real question was if there was any cash value in it for me if I cancelled the policy.  She said "You betcha" in her best Sarah Palin imitation and said that she needed to put me on hold to figure it out.  A minute or two later, she told me that she had emailed me the form that I needed to fill out to request the cash balance and that once they received the paperwork it would take about 12 business days but that I will receive a check slightly over $4,400.00.  If I wore false teeth, those babies would have fallen out.    Bob was as shocked as I was about our wind fall.  Of course, we have to hold some out for taxes but the balance will be applied to the machine balance.  Talk about righ on time.

Virginia

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Whew.  Have been bemoaning the fact with hubby that I haven't been able to even open boxes yet.  In retrospect it seems like a good idea now as it gives me something positive to focus on today.  Did open the box last night that I was sure the owner's manual was in and perused the manual for about 15 minutes when Stevie was cat napping.  Right after lunch this afternoon (boxes have almost been in our house for 48 hours), I set about seriously opening boxes and investigating things.

Earlier I had said it was a B450 but I later discovered that it is a B750.  This baby is crazy cool.  Shop still owes me the embroidery attachment, jumbo hoop and the cording foot I ordered but I have everything else.  I have a Koala table that houses my Singer.  I love this table as it has a motorized lift to raise and lower the machine (perfect for someone with a surgically repaired spine).  We opted for the drop leaf which is fabulous for cutting and you lower the machine, drop in the wood cover and there is a huge span available for fabric to be laid out on.  Today, I set the Bernina up on the drop leaf side.  That way I can still be productive with the Singer while I get comfortable with the Bernina.  I'll also spend 2 hours in the shop on Friday going over basics with one of their gurus.  4 hours in the level 1 embroidery class on Saturday.

I had an insert made by Koala that fits only my model of Singer so there you have a flat space when sewing.  Hubby was bemoaning that it won't fit the Bernina but asked if I could have a new one made.  I think they are about $150 plus oversize shipping charges so no, not going that route.  Also, the B750 comes with a table that should pretty much do the trick.  I think it's more for quilting so that you have a flat space for the quilt to rest on.  One of the standard features is called a BSR, Bernina Stitch Regulator, for quilting.  My favorite is a little box that sits on your sewing work table area and holds all of your feet, tools, extra bobbins, etc.  It has little doors that swing open and then built in hooks for the feet to sit in as well as two (I think) drawers for bobbins, thread spools, etc.

Tomorrow morning I will do a more thorough get acquainted and learn how to wind a bobbin, insert the bobbin and thread the machine.  Then I'll have to jump into work.  I want to have run through as many stitches as I can before Friday so I am ready to ask a question or two.

Anyway, it looks like it is going to be a real fun machine.  Don't have any idea as to how heavy it is as the donkey (Bob) has been carrying it around for me.

Virginia