The Hand Held Sewing Machine: Pros and Cons

Hand-held sewing machines are very popular on TV shopping shows, eBay and Internet malls. It's tempting to want one for such simple sewing chores as sewing on a button or repairing a few loose inches in a seam. There are very small and inexpensive sewing machines that call themselves "hand-held" because no set up is required. A genuine "hand-held" machine can truly be held in the palm of your hand and is more the size and shape of a very large stapler.

Before spending your money, you need to carefully weigh the pros and cons of such a tool.

Virtues Of The hand-held Sewing Machine:

1. The most obvious virtue is its portability. If you want to sit in the den and watch TV with the family, or sit out on the patio to keep an eye on the kids, the hand-held is perfect. The standard sewing machine cannot be easily transported while a genuine hand-held sewing machine can go anywhere.

2. They need no electricity. If you are camping or vacationing in a hotel, this is clearly a huge plus.

3. The price is extremely modest, especially when contrasted with top-of-the-line specialty sewing machines which can not only cost thousands of dollars but are definitely 'overkill' for mundane sewing chores. You can usually buy a hand-held for under $30.

Disadvantages Of The hand-held Sewing Machine:

1. A regular sewing machine is quite stable, since it always sits on a flat, hard surface. A hand-held sewing device is not, and the result can be some pretty awful looking stitches, with uneven tension, that can be easily pulled out.

2. They aren't as easy to use as a regular machine. It takes some practice to get the hang of making flat, even stitches and even many experienced needlewomen find themselves stymied.

3. The tension cannot possibly work like a more expensive machine, so the result is often very inferior stitches that are uneven, look sloppy and are less durable than a regular sewing machine.

4. Because they are cheaper and therefore of less quality, they are very liable to break easily and many owners have reported strange phenomena, like their hand-held turning itself on unexpectedly.

5. The feature that hand-held sewing machine users dislike the most is that, unlike a traditional machine, you can't pull the threads at the end of the stitching when you're finished. Instead, the user must keep running the machine in mid air until there is enough thread to tie off the stitches.

As with so many consumer choices, the buyer must choose between a low price and portability on one hand or a higher quality result, and more expense and trouble on the other side. Be sure you know your options before making your own decision.
To understand your new home sewing machine options, check out SewingMachineCentral.com for brand name sewing machines.

 

Commercial Sewing Machines

Home sewing machines are sometimes not enough for all sewing tasks. There are home sewing machines offering a wide variety of stitch options and accessories that can make clothing construction very easy and pleasant. Sewing of heavy fabric materials for pillows, cushions or slipcovers make the home sewing machine unsuitable for all sewing tasks. The limitations of home sewing machines were overcome with the introduction of commercial sewing machines. Commercial sewing machines are all-purpose sewing machines designed mainly for the hobbyist or for the artisan trade. They differ from home sewing machines but, carry a lot of features of the industrial sewing machines.

Commercial sewing machines are mostly all metal, but may have some plastic parts and gears. All industrial sewing machines are considered as commercial sewing machines. Commercial sewing machines have machine motors. They are built for heavy-duty, all-day work. But some of them are not recommended for a steady 8 hour work day. They are self-oiling, which keeps the machine in top working condition. Speed is the biggest advantage of commercial sewing machines over home sewing machines. They can easily sew over heavy fabrics and multiple layers of different fabrics. Shoes, gloves, hats, books, upholstery, hosiery, tents, awnings, flags, and sails can also be sewn on specially devised commercial sewing machines.

Commercial sewing machines are available in portable and power stand models. Commercial portable sewing machines can be used for on-site jobs. Most popular brands are Singer, Brother, Juki, and Pfaff. Others are Nakajami, Wilcox & Gibbs, Union Special, Reece, Artisan, Pegasus, Barudan, Rimoldi, Columbia, Fishbein, Kansai, Mitsubishi, Merrow, Toyota, Tajima, Yamato, Consew, Chandler and U.S. Blindstitch. Prices range from $600 to $10,000.

Before buying a commercial sewing machine, check on the reliability of the product and warranty features.

Sewing Machines provides detailed information on Sewing Machines, Industrial Sewing Machines, Embroidery Sewing Machines, Antique Sewing Machines and more. Sewing Machines is affiliated with Portable Steam Cleaners.

Quilting Sewing Machines

Quilting is an art of incorporating many needlework skills. Quilts are sewn together from hundreds of small pieces of fabric. Quilting sewing machines hold the layers of cloth together by attachments. Many manufacturers produce machines with quilting capacity.

Some of the sewing machines having quilting capabilities are Brother PC 3000 Electronic sewing machine, Brother PC 6000 Electronic sewing machine etc. Their features include: a walking foot for sewing multiple layers of fabric, clear quilting foot for precise team allowances when piecing.

George sewing machine is a quilting sewing machine manufactured by APQS (American Professional Quilting Systems).This machine is powered by a quiet, covered DC motor and utilizes a hopping foot. It produces superior stitches. Its features include the following: weight 37 lbs, voltage 120V, single stitch function, two - stage needle positioner, handcrafted from aircraft grade aluminum, variable needle speed etc.

Juki TL 98Q is a high quality quilting sewing machine. Its features include the following: hand lift raises foot to 9mm, automatic needle stop up/down button, presser foot presser is easily adjustable, knee lever raises foot to 12 mm, a 1500rpm maximum sewing speed.

Pfaff Grand quilter is a quilting sewing machine which has a larger working area. It can make 1600 stitches per minute. This makes it easy for stitching quilts and stitch long pieces of fabric such as draperies and home decorating projects. Its features include the following: pre-tension adjustment keeps the stitches even and exact on fabric, automatic stitch control gives perfect stitches irrespective of thickness of the fabric.

Singer 132Q 32 stitch sewing machines, a quilting sewing machine has the following features: 5 -step buttonhole, quilting extension table, push button reverse, extended work surface, lightweight for convenient portability, and 18 built-in stitch patterns.

Quilting sewing machines can be bought from retailers or through Internet. There are many sites available in the Internet for purchase of sewing machines. Quilting sewing machines are affordable to all customers.

Sewing Machines provides detailed information on Sewing Machines, Industrial Sewing Machines, Embroidery Sewing Machines, Antique Sewing Machines and more. Sewing Machines is affiliated with Portable Steam Cleaners.

The Damascus Grand Rotary Sewing Machine and Its Reputation

The Damascus Grand Rotary Sewing Machine, sold by Montgomery Ward, decades ago, remains one of the most beloved machines ever created. People around the globe still use, revere, and protect their Grand Rotary sewing machine.

A collector's item, this amazing machine at the time sewed about 1/3 quicker than all other models at the time and it became an instant classic. Every serious sewer and amateur sewer alike quickly learns the nuances of a machine and then becomes one with their machine. This machine is one of the few machines in history to become such an instant and enduring classic.

Even in today's society where convenience and speed are paramount, people enjoy and perfect their sewing skills. In fact, we often pay a premium to have people sew things for us as we appreciate the quality of good sewing. Those among us who have perfected the art of sewing will be quick to point out that it is as much about their machine as it is about their individual skills.

Whether creating a new dress or shirt, hemming pants, altering their favorite garment, attaching buttons or embroidering, the art of sewing is appreciated by all, yet mastered by surprising few. In recent years, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in sewing that has led to an increase in popularity of collectible machines such as this one.

Collectors know the value of a great machine and all of its accessories including the needles, cases and even manuals. That's right, there is an entire market of people looking for, finding and selling owner manuals for popular machines such as this one.

As people look for the ultimate find in sewing, they often come online and research these classic machines to find the machines themselves, as well as the various accessories that are available for the machine.

We would be curious to learn if Montgomery Ward's thought for a moment that when they began to offer this machine nearly a century ago that it would become such an instant classic. Whether they knew it at the time or not, there is no doubt that this amazing machine has caught the heart and the attention of sewing aficionados around the world who love their Damascus Grand Rotary sewing machine. If you are serious about sewing, I highly recommend you get your hands on one of these machines.

Byran Kempa for Sewing Machine Resource - a resource site providing information on all types of sewing machines including the Damascus Grand Rotary sewing machine.

The Secret Behind How Wholesale Sewing Machines Work

If you're looking for a wholesale sewing machine, there's almost as many available as there are tailors. Nowadays wholesale sewing machines have numerous features that can suit every budget, skill level and profession. You can pay anything from $50 to $5000, and can choose a specialty machine for one particular task, or a more general machine that perform various different functions.

When you consider that wholesale sewing machines were created back in the mid-1800's, they really are an amazing feat of engineering and technology. Take the loop stitch as an example. This is very simple to do by hand. You tie the thread onto the eye of a needle. You then push the needle and thread through the two pieces of fabric you want to sew together, pull it out the other side, turn it around and push it back up through the fabric again. The thread loops in and out of the fabric and holds them together. And yet trying to duplicate that stitch on a sewing machine is almost impossible. You'd have to work out how the machine could push the needle through, let it go, turn it around, and push it back again. Then the machine would also have to pull the full length of the thread through the material as well. It doesn't sound as simple as doing by hand, that's for sure!

So the only solution was for the sewing machine to perform the stitch in a slightly different way. A sewing machine needle has the eye at the point of the needle instead of at the top end. A needle bar holds the needle, and is driven up and down by the motor. The sharp end of the needle passes through the fabric and is then brought back up through the fabric again. In the process it leaves a small loop of thread on the bottom side of the fabric. Underneath, another mechanism grabs the loop that's left behind. It then wraps the loop around another piece of thread, or makes another loop in the same piece of thread.

The good thing about wholesale sewing machines is that they don't just do loop stitch. You can use one to perform lock stitches, chain stitches, and basically just about any stitch that would normally be done by hand.

Want more secrets and helpful information on sewing machines to include sewing machines for sale, heavy duty sewing machines and sewing machine parts visit ShoppingForSewingMachines.info located at http://www.shoppingforsewingmachines.info

Finding Help From Embroidery Digitizing Forums

You were looking for a hobby. You knew that crocheting or knitting weren't for you because it took too long to complete a project. So you started looking at other hobbies. Scrapbooking was great -- until you ran out of pictures. You decide to look online for a hobby when you see an ad for embroidery machines. You felt that actually sounded like fun.

Not wanting to make your decisions on impulse, you do your research online on which machine to buy. You compare price and features, and still have trouble deciding. Looking for product reviews, you happen on a machine embroidery forum. You spend hours looking at the forum, reading product reviews for each machine that you had considered, and finally you decide on an embroidery machine.

That's great, but what next?

With a sense of excitement, you read other areas of the forum and you find out about embroidery digitizing programs. Knowing that once you purchase a program, you cannot return it, you read more product reviews about each program. You compare the different programs, and decide to take the leap and buy your own embroidery digitizing program.

With all your research and reading, you knew there was going to be a learning curve when you bought your embroidery digitizing program. After all, you did your research before you bought the program. You even asked for advice on the embroidery digitizing forums where you did most of your research.

After all of your time on the forums, you've made friends there. These friends can help you learn to digitize embroidery patterns. Now, keep in mind that the people you meet on embroidery digitizing forums are also in the middle of the learning process; however most of them will be more than happy to give you suggestions on how to learn to digitize embroidery patterns.

Embroidery digitizing forums are a great way to meet people who have similar interests to you. A good forum I found was www.digitizingtalk.com. You can get to know people who are doing the same hobby, and you can eventually help others that are just starting out in the embroidery digitizing world.

With all of the expert help in digitizing embroidery forums, you would think that their advice would help with the learning curve for embroidery digitizing. The people who are giving their advice have gone through the learning process and have their own tips and tricks that they're able to tell you about. However, a lot of the learning process is trial and error. So even though you can get some great advice and meet some friends with similar interests through embroidery digitizing forums, you will still have to deal with the learning curve in learning to digitize an embroidery pattern. Just relax and take your time. Don't pressure yourself to learn embroidery digitizing quickly, and enjoy your new friends.

Sahel is the Sales/Support representative of Cheap Digitizing. You can find more information or ask questions about Embroidery Digitizing on www.cheapdigitizing.com

PE-Design Embroidery Digitizing Software: Getting Started

What is PE-Design?

PE-Design is an embroidery digitizing software system available from Brother dealers and though the 'PE' stands for Personal Embroidery, don't let that fool you. It's a robust system that allows for some pretty advanced digitizing and embroidery and is an excellent program to begin learning the art of embroidery digitizing. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) or What-You-See/Interact-With-On-The-Screen is colorful with large, intuitive buttons and fly-outs. It's also organized very well with no clutter for a large workspace.

PE-Design allows the digitizer to convert a digital picture to stitches and save it in a format that can be read by the computer in your embroidery machine. The image can be one you've hand drawn and scanned, one created in another imaging program such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, or JASC Paint Shop Pro, one you've captured (legally, of course) from the Internet, a CD or floppy, or a digital snapshot from your digital camera. Whatever the case, the original image must be in .jpg, .gif or .bmp format.

The PE-Design full product package includes a card reader/writer. It must be plugged into a USB port in order for the program to run. Though you can install the program on any machine, it can only function on the machine where the reader/writer is installed.

Once you've created your design, you can save it in Brother (*.PES), Husqvarna/Viking (*.HUS), Melo (*.EXP), Tajima (*.DST) and Pfaff (*.PCS) formats. It is a Brother product, so its native format is PES.

What Does It Cost?

The program will probably run you somewhere between $1,000.00 and $1,200.00, but if you are purchasing an embroidery machine or are a good customer of the shop and don't mind a little dickering, you might be able to negotiate a substantial savings. It never hurts to try. Here's a tip: Before you buy ask your dealer if any major upgrades to the software have been announced. If a major upgrade is forthcoming and you are in no hurry, you may want to postpone your purchase. Major upgrades come with a price, usually in the range of $250.00 to $300.00, and must be purchased from a Brother dealer. Though a major upgrade is usually worth the investment, you don't want to purchase the software one month just to have to shell out more money a few months later. Minor upgrades, from the current version 6.0 to version 6.07 for instance, are free, and are downloaded from the Brother web site.

Commercial or Home-based?

PE-Design is designed with the home-based digitizer and personal embroiderer in mind. That means that many functions or settings are automatic with limited manual control available to the digitizer. Commercial digitizing software is just the opposite: Functions and settings are in the hands of the digitizer and automatic settings can be adjusted and saved. Of course, commercial digitizing software will cost five to twenty times more than PE-Design. Still, in the hands of a skilled and creative digitizer, PE-Design produces excellent embroidery designs.

Beginning to Digitize

As with any sophisticated software be prepared to practice, practice, practice and use your creativity to explore and push the program to its limits. Learn the fundamentals of what makes a design sew out perfectly, then look at the designs you like with an analytical eye. Ask, "How did they do that?" and try to recreate the technique. With time you'll develop your own style and find your digitizing niche.

Many shops offer digitizing classes. Ask to sit in for free on a few before making a time or financial commitment. If all the instructor does is follow the booklet that came with the software, save your money. You'll probably teach yourself quicker.

Speaking of the manual: It is 262 pages and was obviously written by a team very familiar with PE-Design and the English language. It is well organized with plenty of images and screenshots, is very easy to read and covers the basic use of every tool in depth. It is not a digitizing teacher. Use it to learn the tools, it won't take long, then practice, practice, practice.

The Bottom Line

If you are interested and excited about learning to digitize your own embroidery designs, whether for personal use or to sell, PE-Design is a wonderful way to get started. Its reasonable entry fee and easy to use and learn interface, will allow you to reach new creative heights in all your embroideries.

Deb Schneider is an embroidery design digitizer and PE-Design instructor offering her machine embroidery designs, Redwork designs and appliques on her website: WindstarEmbroidery.com