[PW] ?reviews for high-end sewing machines

[Karen Lofstrom]

On 4/6/07, Pam McLaughlin <pmclaughlin at fremontlibrary.org> wrote:

> My patron is interested in consumer reviews for high-end (we're talking
> list prices of $3000 and up) sewing machines.

> Consumers Reports doesn't seem to have this, and a search of our EBSCO
> database was equally fruitless.

Try Threads magazine:
<http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00130.asp> for basic machines
and guidelines on testing machines. I can't find any reviews of
high-end machines either.

All I can say is that I've sewn for 50 years, and read sewing
magazines and blogs for decades, and my impression is that three
brands (Bernina, Pfaff, and Husqvarna) are considered top-of-the-line.
Hard to say which is best, because individual preferences vary. It's
like arguing the BEST guitars or the BEST pianos.

Threads advises making a stack of test swatches (fabrics from very
light to very heavy, crisp to slithery) and sewing through the stack
on every machine you're considering. (The stores give you squares of
starched cheesecloth for testing -- those are no good. Everything sews
well on starched cheesecloth. Try chiffon and canvas for a real test.)
Save and label the swatches. Then go home, look at the stitch quality,
think about the machine's ease of use, etc. Might want to Google for
comments on that particular model, to see if there is cluster of
complaints about one or another feature, durability, and so on.

--
Karen Lofstrom