As I mentioned earlier this week I took the plunge and got a new sewing machine. Since moving into my crafty space downstairs, I've been sewing more. And while my litter Singer is great, it was starting to become obvious that I was eventually going to need to take a step up.
Last month I quilted a lap size quilt on it. Man was that a challenge wrangling all that fabric and batting! And poor Betty, that was a bit much to ask of her. If you look closely at the stitching you will notice that even though I used a walking foot she had some issues keeping her stitch length even. Overall the finished product was amazing. I loved the look, texture, and drape of it. Not to mention it only took me two evenings of stitching to complete. It was rather therapeutic, like mowing the law. Back and forth making my strait lines, following the seams. I know I'm weird, but something about the monotony of mowing the lawn or in this case quilting I find relaxing.
After my first large project of machine quilting, I was hooked, already dream of my next 50,000 projects. I was going to need a work horse, something that could handle the demands of quilting. Enter the Juki TL-98Q.
I did my research and the Juki seemed to me like it would be the best fit. I didn't want a fancy-pants computerized machine; I needed something simple, solid, and would handle any task I put to it. Preferably something that you can drop the feed dogs, the little teeth that pull your fabric through the machine on the bottom. One of my goals is to give free-motion-quilting a try. For my non sewing readers, that's where you are in control of pushing and pulling your fabric, this enables you to do all sorts of nifty loopy patterns. The only down side of a machine of this caliber is the price tag. Yikes!! I was lucky enough to find a lightly used one, you guessed it, on Craigslist. Still an investment, but so far worth every penny.
I've had her for almost a week, and I'm completely smitten. She just purrs. I'd have to say that one of my favorite bonuses is the automatic thread cutter. So convenient! Press a button with our foot and presto, threads are cut! I've yet to try the knee lift but I think it will come in handy while machine quilting. Of course I will let you know in a few more weeks how she's treating me, along with some details on my latest project!
I did my research and the Juki seemed to me like it would be the best fit. I didn't want a fancy-pants computerized machine; I needed something simple, solid, and would handle any task I put to it. Preferably something that you can drop the feed dogs, the little teeth that pull your fabric through the machine on the bottom. One of my goals is to give free-motion-quilting a try. For my non sewing readers, that's where you are in control of pushing and pulling your fabric, this enables you to do all sorts of nifty loopy patterns. The only down side of a machine of this caliber is the price tag. Yikes!! I was lucky enough to find a lightly used one, you guessed it, on Craigslist. Still an investment, but so far worth every penny.
I've had her for almost a week, and I'm completely smitten. She just purrs. I'd have to say that one of my favorite bonuses is the automatic thread cutter. So convenient! Press a button with our foot and presto, threads are cut! I've yet to try the knee lift but I think it will come in handy while machine quilting. Of course I will let you know in a few more weeks how she's treating me, along with some details on my latest project!
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