Machine Update...

 Way back in June, I purchased a Bernette B77.  You can read about it here.  In July, I gave a little update on how things were going with the new machine.  You can find that here.  Now it is November.  My machine is not at my parents house.  It is still sitting at my house and gets used almost every day.  I have not worked through any of the manuals or work books or finished my stitch bible.  What can I say except "I just want to sew."  

I have been sewing simple things.  A new machine takes getting use to.  This machine is taking a while to get use to. There are things that I really like about the machine and there are things that I really do not like about the machine.  

Things that I like:

1.  The needle threader.  It is fabulous and works every time.  

2.  The buttonhole maker.  I have made dozens of buttonholes and have had only one failure.  It was a user issue.  I think it was the bobbin ran out of thread.

3.  Love the knee lift. It is something that you could find on older mechanical machines or very high end machines.  Nice that it is on this machine.

Things that I do not like:

1.  The bobbin winder.  It is super fiddly.  I finally figured out that you had to thread the bobbin and hold on to the thread tail the entire time that the bobbin was winding or you would get a loose bobbin.  I can get a good bobbin now just about every time I wind a bobbin now.

2.  The ankle for the presser feet.  Again, putting a different presser feet on is fiddly.  Perhaps this is a user issue and I really need to read the manual a little closer.  

3.  The buttonhole maker.  Do not get me wrong.  This machine makes beautiful buttonholes but there is no way to make a manual buttonhole.  You have to have a button.  Sometimes, you need to be able to make a buttonhole that is not used by a button.  Obviously, the answer is to have different size buttons.  Sometimes, that sends you shopping.

4.  Lack of markings on the presser feet.  This really only got noticed when I decided to do some topstitching.  I did finally figure out that I could use two feet to workout what I wanted to do but it was a real struggle and slowed me down.

Now I admit that have not done anything elaborate yet with the machine.  I have made buttonholes but I have not sewn any zippers.  Isn't the straight stitch and zigzag what is used 90 or 95 percent of the time?  This will be remedied.  I have a vest project for my husband that has multiple zippers.  I will update as the adventure continues.

Happy Stitching!