Tips to Find the Best Sewing Machine For Beginners

Learning how to sew can be difficult, especially if you choose the wrong machine. Before choosing a sewing machine, you should identify which areas you want to focus on the most, and that will help you determine how to choose the best sewing machine for beginners. For instance, if you would like to focus more on sewing clothing or accessories you might want to get a standard computerized machine that can handle at least 20-50 stitch settings for garment construction and has a removable sewing arm to allow you to easily sew seams and sleeves.

Typically, if you choose the wrong sewing machine, or even a cheaper model, you will have trouble with:

The speedThe tangling, unwinding or breaking of the bobbin threadThe lack of decorative or functional stitch optionsThe machine parts breaking

These are typically the barriers that make beginner sewers get so frustrated that they quit trying to learn the art altogether. So here are some tips for you to choose the best sewing machine for beginners.

Choosing Your Machine Based on Your Interests

Now lets compare and contrast the typical machine with other types. If you would only like to patch up your garments when you find holes, create buttonholes or adjust the hem of a garment, you may want to consider buying a mini sewing machine. It will probably not be computerized, but will have about 10 built-in stitches and will allow forward and reverse sewing, automatic threading and will allow you to sew on multiple layers of light materials or one layer of denim. You can use these kind of machines for small projects around the house, crafts or like I mentioned earlier clothing repair.

If you plan to go a little beyond general sewing and want to get into intricate design and fashioning your own clothing, then you will probably want a more versatile sewing machine that you can use for sewing and quilting projects. To save yourself some heartache you'd probably want to start out with one that offers at least 25 stitches, sewing speed control, an automatic and jam resistant bobbin, a stitch length and width setting and an easy start and stop or back stitch button. In addition, look for one that come with several added accessories so that you will not have to purchase these extra parts yourself.

Also there is a third type of sewing machine that I would consider starting out as a beginner, and that would be the heavy-duty sewing machines. If you know that sewing will be a skill that you wish to continually develop then I would suggest that you consider a sewing machine with metal parts. Usually modern sewing machines are made to be lightweight and are made out of plastic parts. But a heavy-duty models may be of interest to you if you plan to sew heavy or thick materials on it. Metal machines will last longer under the stress of sewing thicker materials frequently.

Community Advice

So after you have chosen which type of machine you would like to buy, now you need to narrow down your options since there are so many sewing machines for beginners to choose from. If you know what your needs are you can go to some of the larger manufacturer websites like SINGER or Brother and browse through their products. However, to really zone in on the machine that will be right for you, you are going to need to search for the consumer reviews for the product and the machine's ratings. Other buyers will let you know what the downfalls of a particular machine might be.