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Sewing
Machine Buying Guide
Sewing
Machine Ratings?
How Useful
Are They?
If you are like most
consumers today you want to make sure you are
getting the best deal for any product you are
going to purchase. This means that you are
going to ask your friends, look online and go
to stores to get sewing machine ratings to help
you make your final decision. Sewing machines
start at under a hundred dollars ($100) for
basic mechanical sewing machines. By adding
stitches, features like button hole settings,
computerized stitches and patterns, the ability
to do embroidery, quilting options and more you
can easily find machines that are now over
three thousand dollars ($3000).
How do you make sense of all
the brands, models and features? One way is to
gather sewing machine ratings on the types of
machines you are considering. A sewing machine
rating on a long arm quilting machine is not
going to help you if you are looking for
machines that sew seams and decorative
stitches. There are many sites with ratings and
reviews of just about all available models. A
great site for expert reviews in How Stuff
Works with almost two hundred models reviewed
and rated of all price ranges and features.
Another place to go is the library to look at
the Consumer Reports Buyers Guide. They
annually review many different models and offer
Best Buy recommendations in different price
categories. Models are rated on reliability,
durability and cost benefit comparisons.
JoAnn Fabrics offers a full
comparison chart on all of the Singer Models it
sells in stores and online. It divides them
into three categories - sewing machines, sewing
machines with embroidery and serger feature
machines. The chart starts with the number of
built in stitches for each machine (7 for the
1507WC and 173 for the 7470 Confidence Model).
It shows you how many needle positions each
model has (1-13) and the maximum width stitch
for each model. The chart goes on to detail
what features are available by putting a bullet
point in the box for each feature like top drop
in bobbin, Drop and Sew Bobbin TM, what kind of
work light it has, what kind of drop feed and
whether the needle is programmable. This is
just for the regular sewing machines. JoAnn's
chart does the same things with the features
specific to the other two categories and is a
great tool if you are looking for a Singer
machine of any type. The only issue I have with
this chart is that there are no prices.
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