วีดีโอ

I think you totally rock those graphic tees!! they’re super cute and they go with your bubbly personality

THE EMBROIDERED PANTS OMG <3

I am not much for stripes but that thick striped colorful shirt over the white blouse looked great. So unexpected.

I can. Cloth recycling is a big goal of mine too as is decluttering, so I’m right there with you. And there should be more good options than there are. Personally I can’t afford services like Ridwell this year. If you want you can give me your natural fiber and rayon cloth. I can compost that and I’m not growing vegetables so not too concerned if they aren’t organic. The polyesters and plastic fibers are harder. They are good for furniture stuffing and carpet padding and I promise I’ll research some of the closest options for that soon.

I love the distinction between are you stylish? vs. are you fashionable?

Six years ago I resolved to buy no new clothes - only thrifting for a year. It went great and made thrift shopping a habit. This year I am finally going to finish a couple more upcycling and mending projects that are sitting on my floor! I also would like to get rid of SO MUCH cloth that is really unusable for anything except recycling. Could you please help me find cloth recycling options?

Mini course on basic sewing skills used for upcycling would be great. Also I'm really interested in the decluttering as I hate just dumping stuff and charity shops don't take everything. Happy New Year ❤

This is really useful information. I can’t wait to see more.

Adorable

Hi!

Hi!

So fun to see these easy hacks!

On your opening montage @ 00:15 you show a 158 Kenmore (looks like maybe a 1941.). That is one fantastic machine as are many other 1970s era Kenmores. I have a similar machine that is the best machine I've ever had, no modern sewing machine comes close.

I’ve been a sewist for 51 years. I have 5 great sewing machines for my quilting, but I’d like to get back into sewing clothing. I have a Juki HZL-F600, Juki TL-2010Q, Janome MC 8200 Horizon, Bernette B37 and Necchi . Except for the TL-2010Q, they all have specialty stitches. In your opinion, do I need a serger to make knit clothing?? Thanks in advance 😊

Aw, I used to live in Longmont and I loved going to mountain state- there was a great diner across the street, at least at the time! this gave me a lil bit of nostalgia 💜. Tbh I think front range thrift stores are up there with the best in the US at least.

My machine has the slider slow or fast

Ive got a brand new janome 740dc sewist machine

when I was 26, I really coughed up for a Bernini 830 even it was a heavy burden on my budget, I am now 74 and still use it daily with no problem. It is one of the best investment I ever made. One caution about lending your treasured machine to others, especially newbies, they do not know how to care for the machine (i.e. not keep the machine properly oiled) and use it properly which can led to expensive repairs.

purple bloomers, yay😃

Great job Helene!

See whats in the box at 9:20

I learned on my grandma's Featherweight at the age of 2 and a half. I have been sewing since then and I'll be 60. I got my first machine at 5, it was a used Kenmore Zigzag from a local sewing shop. My grandma was a fountain of information. I now have 10 sewing machines. 2 Juki Sergers, A Juki Coverstitch, a Juki F600, a portable Juki, A Juki 2010, a Janome 500E Embroidery Machine, a Blindstitcher, a Babylock Accomplish and grandma's featherweight. Three of my machines are straight stitch! The kid's machines are cute, but they suck! I teach sewing in my area, and everything you say is TRUE! I'm glad I found you, so entertaining and I can recommend you to beginners.

I am the ONLY sewing machine repair tech in my area, and I sell refurbished machines, and stand behind them for six months. A lot of these machines came to me literally from the landfill, some from thrift stores and even donations. A refurbished sewing machine is a great way to learn and teach sewing on. Older Kenmores and Janomes are worthwhile finds. Excellent video, excellent advice.

Love my Bernina 350 PE sewing machine and my Bernette b42 funlock (by Bernina) coverstitch machine. I also have the cheapo Brother 1034D serger that so many people buy from Amazon. I have had it for several years and had no trouble with it.

Heres my advice: Buy a cheap Singer from Wally world. Watch TH-cam videos and have at it. If it breaks you can return it. If you hate it you can return it. If you break your friends sewing machine, then you're out the cost of repairs. Im a 41 year old male aircraft mechanic that grew up farming. Basic sewing is fairly easy to learn.

Haha. I'd rather use my old White to sew leather than my Janome Skyline. Mine whines too! In all fairness. My Skyline accufeed rocks.

I only sew as a hobby but my husband bought me a heavy duty singer and I used it a few times to repair a few things. My dad passed earlier this year and apparently he had let someone store 2 rooms full of stuff for 10+ years in his spare rooms and I found an old QEE Bernina artista 185 and it runs SO MUCH SMOOTHER than my Singer. I did some maintinence because it was sitting for years and needing cleaned and oiled but I truly can not express how much more smoother it runs than my newer heavy duty machine. I usually sew on the Bernina souly.

I'm delighted to find this tutorial. I'd like to get a used sewing machine, and these are great tips.

Yes, Longmont CO. They do great work in the community.

Longmont CO right? I feel like I’ve been to the mountain state. Love the second look from the US. Great vid, thrifting is fun wherever you are 😂 ❤ from Denver

If you are a size 10 US you are a 14 in the UK, we start at size 4 and you start at zero

Cool video. Bless you. You sound like you have the great british common cold! You need some honey and lemon girl!

I agree with you totally

Thank you 😊

Have to say I would never buy one of these plastic fantastic computerised (landfill) sewing machines, they are so unreliable, and so slow to use and temperamental. also when they throw up and error you can’t use the machine until you pay thru the nose for a repair, if it can even be repaired as the parts may not be available. I have always stayed with the old full metal bodied mechanical machines, they are super reliable, fully serviceable and the stitch quality is sublime and they sew at a decent speed. I’ve stuck with the old singers and BERNINA’s (FW,221k, 222k 99k,201k, - 807, 830, 800DL) I’ve taught my friends children to sew on these machines and will pick up second hand machines and get them serviced for them, then give them to them, so I know they have a reliable machine for life, that can grow with their skill levels. I’m super lucky to have a family run Bernina sewing machine repair centre that I have used for many many years (www.bambersew.com) They also stock newer machines and will refurbish older vintage machines. Please please please don’t buy these landfill machines, they really take away the fun in sewing by constantly jamming and breaking. Which is the last thing you need when you are learning to sew.

Made me subscribe❤❤❤

I love faded graphic t-shirts 😂

I feel like there are a lot of people who really like random shirts lol

You want knit stitch. It plain works better than the myth of zig zag. Sergers? Try taking out a serger seam. You don’t start with that.

Great video!!! You are so right about people trying to sell you an expensive machine that could be way overkill for the beginner. What I have found is that the vintage metal body machines are better made and can be cleaned, oiled and maintained by the user. The plastic ones have clips the hold it together that are easy to break. The cost to service them is sometimes as much as a new machine. I think that if a person is expecting to make bags and/or quilts, those are 2 hobbies that can push a machine to its limits due to the multiple thick layers. In those instances, more care should be made to get something that will last and like you said, test out a used machine to see if it works for your needs. TFS

I absolutely love that jacket, it looks so good!

With a 70s era Kenmore, you get best of both worlds - an all metal machine with more modern stitches that do come in handy, like a blind stitch for hems and a pretty good buttonholer, and a free arm for sleeves. They're also ugly as sin, so people will typically sell them cheap. No one values them who doesn't already know vintage machines. I've got 13+ machines at the moment (ranging from 1905 to 2017), and I'll admit my Kenmore 148 series has a very high quality feel to it-- once I got the tension problems figured out (which were not insubstantial). It cost me $20 on shopgoodwill. So to anyone starting out, they are probably the best bet, if you can find one serviced and ready to go (and if it comes with a manual... some of the dials are tricky to figure out).

I live on a small Scottish island. During lockdown I decided to buy a sewing machine. I watched lots of TH-cam videos, and everything I’ve made has turned out great. I started off with masks, then little zippered cosmetic bags. Then I discovered Tilly & the Buttons book Stretch. Lots of clothing items using stretch fabric. I’m still using my basic Janome, it’s not a computerized machine, but really all you need is a straight stitch, and a zigzag stitch.

Your clothing certainly seems to jump around a lot.

I've got 6 machines (oops) and quite honestly if I neder needed zigzag or stretch stitch, the only one I'd ever use is the 1914 hand crank machine that my friend's mom brought over from Englandafter the second world war. None of my machines are later models than the 1980s, but the two newest ones are garbage. The 80's one is a plastic basic model Singer and I'd never have wanted another machine if it wasn't such a jerk. I've even had it serviced multiple times. It made me think I hated sewing and would only do it because I got what I wanted in the end. It likes to mess with its tension and even spit the thread right out of its tensioner mid-seam. And it's very particular aobut bobbins it will use, it wants a certain kind of plastic ones but not all plastic ones... The next youngest machine I had high hopes for because I've always (until this) had great experiences with Kenmore models, it was a late 70's model that had been used for one project then put back in its original box for 40 years, but it had been designed assuming it would never need service or lubrication, so its innards are gunked together and I can't figure how to open it up, the technicians who degunked it enough that I got straight and zigzag back and could backstitch without changing the stitch length told me it was a bad design, not worth fixing beyond that, and they left toolmarks on the enamel just trying to get it open. It's already showing signs of gunking back up, and if I sew anything thick like a seam intersection, it's got a tendency to snap its thread, and I do not understand how its tensioner is supposed to work at all, it's just a vertical slot you put the thread through and sometimes it seems to catch whatever controls tension, sometimes it doesn't, it's the queen of "well, maybe unthreading and rethreading will make it behave this time". I also have a 1960's Universal that according to my research was a cheaply built machine when it was manufactured and according to the friend who had it serviced before gifting it to me, they said its motor's not that strong and it should not be used for extended seams or anything really heavy, give it lots of little breaks. Which is fine, I rarely do sewing marathons and I need lots of little breaks myself. I used it this summer to sew swimsuits and it got a bit weird in the tension over thick areas (ie seam intersections) and absolutely refused to sew through the kind of elastic that looks like a rubber band but took the braided elastic and the stretchy thread I was using like a champ. I recently acquired a departed friend's early 70's Kenmore and I have high hopes for this one, it's been well maintained as far as I can see, has the stretch stitch I want for knits that the Universal doesn't have, and did all its things properly until I tried to fix the rip in a pair of pants and I think there's a fluff of cotton cargo pants caught in it somewhere, so I need to take it all apart and give it a thorough cleaning and lubrication because it started snapping its thread and missing stitches right after that happened. I'm wondering if I could convince one of the several vintage machine repair places to let me watch them fix my machines, I'd pay extra for the knowledge. I even have the original manual for this one. It's not that I don't want to pay them what it's worth, it's that when something goes wonky in the middle of the project, I want to know enough to do a fix so I can finish... I want to at least run through all the usual suspects before I have to pack it up and bring it somewhere.

I bought a Singer and it was a complete waste of money. It had multiple defects and Singer would not give me an exchange. I did some research and learned that decades ago, Singer got bought out by private equity and their quality has been subpar ever since. I decided to invest in a Bernette Academy and I am incredibly happy with it. I love your advice about borrowing a machine before purchasing one.

I love my Mom's post-war Japanese made Admiral sewing machine, a Singer knockoff. I learned to sew on it and find it easy to maintain. If we needed to, we could fix it ourselves which we couldn't if it were computerized. My sister had a fancy newer machine and I helped her find an Admiral like Moms. And it was the Deluxe model. She loves it, too.

Thanks! I would add that even if you can afford a new machine, an older one that was common enough to have replacement parts easily accessing is a better investment. They are more durable, and buying used is always good for the environment.

i have some alternate advice - if you enjoy tinkering and don't know where to start with sewing projects at all, but want to at least try but have the space for a 20-35kg machine - i recommend a vintage singer machine (1900s-1950s) hand crank or treadle. They're made to last and still have a big community who collect and maintain vintage machines, and share knowledge on being able to maintain and fix them up at home. most of the popular models will only do a straight stitch, and sometimes with no reverse, but there's no computer board to burn out, and you can go at a safe and slow speed with a hand crank. they're absolute beasts in terms of what thick fabrics you can throw at them, and its much harder to mess up a mechanical machine than a modern electric. there's a large abundance of parts out there and feet, and it's easy to check out what model u have, and a bit more about it, based on their serial numbers. they start at absolutely DIRT cheap to buy, and often given away for the convenience of people not wanting their heavy inherited machine in their way anymore. It's a safe alternative to jumping in too deep and messing up someone else's machine, and you can see what every part is doing because things like top tension are now hidden behind dials and plastic. if you're environmentally concious the lack of electricity is awesome, but you can also fit motors on most models, or find factory motorised models even. If you don't use the machine for a while, they also look great on display. my "youngest" machine model is from the early 60's - i finally wanted to try out a macine with a zigzag stitch though so bought a budget singer from around 2011. The experience is night and day - it feels like sewing with a toy in comparison and probably will struggle with thicker fabrics and layers. ...Meanwhile i've seen vintage singers demo'ed sewing through 4-6 layers of leather, and in one instance, an empty food tin! - so it really depends what experience you want out of sewing and what you start to enjoy about it :D i will defo enjoy trying out my "modern" singer and using the pattern range, but will always fall back on my vintage singer for rugged use, quilting, and anything crazy that would absolutely obliterate a modern machine like non clothing for art projects

How fun!