New Season, New Ideas, New Machine

As with the season, a shift is occurring.

I recently purchased a new serger, to replace my 20 something year old Bernina, which is just about retired. The decision to get this new machine was based around my feeling to do some more exploratory, creative sewing and to branch out a bit from the focus I have been so steadily on. My sewing skills and steadiness of focus and of hand, have improved dramatically over the last few months. And while I love what I am doing,  perhaps I am ready for a new challenge.

In my search for a new machine, I knew I wanted a few specific stitch capabilities – first and foremost. I also had a sense, from reading many many reviews and looking at many many machines, that I wanted a certain level of solidity and quality, as well as ease of use – meaning not a lot of arduous foot changing and adjusting for the functions I thought I would use a lot. I decided on a Juki 654. Juki is a brand which I am familiar with, and I have been impressed with the quality. I went for a newer (though not the newest) model, even though it was a couple hundred dollars more than similar older models. The newest model did not seem as though it would make sewing more fun or functional to justify the extra cost.

I spent some time today learning it’s different stitches and was able to master a number of them. All of the ones shown below were done with the standard foot and with only a few simple changes of tension and threading. I am very impressed with this machine so far, and have only just started to explore it’s capabilities. It is relatively very quiet and runs very smooth and sound. It creates beautiful stitches and is built very well.

I know it was a supreme challenge to choose a sewing machine and an equally supreme challenge to choose a serger, so if any sewers out there have any questions, feel free to ask!