Machine

This post is a tribute to my machines...I use three different sewing machines for different reasons. I know it's a little excessive and probably a little bit unnecessary, but....My first sewing machine was a Janome 5700. My husband gave it to me for Christmas because years before I had mentioned that I wanted to learn to sew so that when we had children I could make their Halloween costumes. It's a great machine...a plethora of stitches and also an embroidery machine. Then I started sewing and selling on Etsy and using heavier fabrics and stitching through more and more layers. I decided it was time to get a workhorse that could take all that so that I didn't tear up the "fancy" machine. I bought myself a used Juki TL 98 E. It's a bare bones machine...one straight stitch and reverse. It does have an automatic cutter that I love. One of my machines was acting up so I took it in...in the meantime, I decided to borrow my grandma's machine. She used to sew quite a bit...making clothes for my mom and aunts and then for my sister and me. She has Kenmore from the 1950's and it is a blast to work with. It only has about 5 stitches, which at the time was a pretty big deal. What I love it for is the attachments....a binder, a ruffler, a gather foot....a few others that I haven't even tried yet. I know I could get those feet for my existing machines, but it's so much more fun to sew on the machine that created some of the cutest Easter dresses I wore.
I recently used all three for one project! The ruffler attachment on the Kenmore was used to ruffle the tiers for the latest ruffle valance I made. Then I use the Juki to stitch the tiers together and then the overlock stitch on the Janome finishes all the edges.