I’ve all the time identified my approach round a needle and thread. I can reattach a misplaced button and even absorb a gown (simply do not look too intently on the seams). I as soon as hand-sewed a whole bunch of particular person felt scales on some pants to make a Where the Wild Things Are Halloween costume. Yet for some motive, studying to make use of a stitching machine all the time appeared too daunting a activity. Just a few months in the past, I made a decision I used to be lastly prepared to overcome one.
I’ve now spent a great deal of time with the Singer C7290Q, and whereas I’m not but able to hit Project Runway, I can report that it was simple to study, affords a wide range of sew sorts, and might deal with heavy-duty cloth like denim too. I’m not nice at rapidly choosing up something difficult. Try to show me a method sport and my thoughts will wander away whilst you’re nonetheless unpacking the items. I used to be nervous I would not be capable of sew with a machine, however my largest shock was simply how simple it’s to make use of one.
A Stitch in Time
Most trendy machines are set as much as make threading, bobbin-winding, and stitching a primary sew a easy course of. It’s every little thing else that will get just a little extra difficult, like determining what all of the equipment are for and studying patterns. (Or even slicing a straight line, if I’m being trustworthy.)
Basic stitching machines might need 10 to twenty sew choices. The Singer C7290Q has 200(!), damaged up into commonplace utility stitches, together with a number of buttonhole and eyelet choices, patterns like florals and hearts, and letters, numbers, and symbols. It’s not an embroidery machine, per se, however you may add embroidery-like designs, and much more so in the event you pair it with a free motion presser foot. Your field comes with a smaller model of this for darning (repairing holes). You may not ever use most of those stitches, but it surely’s enjoyable to mess around with totally different designs.
Using this Singer, I added denim panels to the underside of denims I minimize too brief. To distract from the 2 barely totally different coloration blues, I sewed over the seam with a line of lavender coronary heart stitches. They’re not good, however I really like them.
Photograph: Singer
An LCD display shows the sew you’ve got chosen, in addition to settings like sew size and width. It even tells you what presser foot to make use of, which was useful for this newbie nonetheless making an attempt to study what each does. You get 12 of those presser ft within the field for issues like including in zippers, making a blind hem, or making a one-step buttonhole. It additionally features a few bobbins, a small L screwdriver for opening up the plate, a seam ripper, additional needles, and an edge/quilting information for stitching straight traces.
This machine known as a stitching and quilting machine, however I did not attempt the latter. It contains some options to make quilting simpler, like an extension desk, a strolling foot, beneficiant stitching house for bigger initiatives, and the flexibility to drop the feed canines (the moveable plate that pulls the material). All of those are additionally good for common stitching. One day I’ll sort out quilting, however I must grasp stitching first.
Sew It Goes
The C7290Q has another options not included in some cheaper machines, like a begin and cease button that allows you to sew with out utilizing the foot pedal—it is not crucial, however it may be useful. The needle threader is wonderful when it really works. But typically it simply did not wish to cooperate. The tiny piece of metallic that’s imagined to undergo the needle eye is often pushed to the surface of the needle as an alternative. Some days I may fiddle round and get it to work, some days I simply threaded it myself.
A thread cutter robotically cuts each the bobbin and prime threads if you’re carried out, which is sweet, however that additionally solely labored typically. Usually, it minimize the highest and never the bobbin thread. (These spring-action scissors have been beneficial to me for making quick snips whereas stitching, and they are much higher than this thread cutter.)
