My new love

Late last year, as I was putting the finishing touches to some (yet to be blogged about) gifts, my trusty old sewing machine went pop and hissed and fizzled and let out a puff of smoke and an acrid electrical burning smell. After 19 years of use and abuse it was letting me know it had had enough. So last week, after about year of thinking about it, and saving for it, I finally bought myself a new sewing machine. A Bernina 550QE sewing computer* to be precise.

With one project under my belt (our belts?) so far, I am completely and utterly in love with it. Far more than I expected.

It started with the fact that it fills the bobbin almost entirely by itself (and I have a few to be filled), and ended with the fact that this first project was so easy to sew with it.


It was a project that had been on the To-Do list for a long time- a hanging pocket organiser for holding shoes and sun hats inside our all-purpose storage cupboard. I probably could have managed to make it with my old machine, but I know it would have been a struggle.

There would have been broken needles and cursing and swearing and hand cranking as I wrangled multiple layers of fabric through the machine. It wouldn't have had the triple stitched top stitching that I chose to use (for extra strength and durability), and the top stitching wouldn't have been as neat because I wouldn't have had the clever presser foot that makes neat top stitching so easy.

All the necessary stopping and starting would have driven me batty, with all the needle up/down adjusting and presser foot lifting that becomes so much easier (unnecessary even) when you have touch button and knee lever controls. And having a big work surface to support a big project was brilliant too.

Really, I was amazed. I expected it to be a more robust and helpful machine but experiencing it really blew me away**. I am smitten and looking forward to spending many more evenings together with it.

*According to the manual it is a sewing computer, not a sewing machine. Although it does lack a Qwerty keyboard and touchscreen.
**Actually being able to set foot inside our all-purpose storage cupboard, now that all the shoes that used to take up the floor space in there are hanging up on the inside of the door, is pretty amazing too.