Here is my new sewing machine!!  It’s a digital Brother, factory refurbished, so I got it for about 55% off (including the same 25 year warranty the new machines come with).  To buy it I sold one of my manual machines and pair of cowboy boots (I will surely get more use out of this machine than my 8th pair of boots).  I have only played with it a little.  It has so many stitches!! Here’s a tiny few:

What I noticed most so far is that they few things I’m still good at as a seamstress, this machine appears to fix for me.  I have always had trouble regulating speed, especially when I need to go slowly.  This machine has speed settings, so when I need to go slow, I can just set it for slow! Also the needle always ends in a perfect down position, which is great for appliques.  And it has a fancy button that raises or lowers the needle to perfect up or perfect down.  These probably seem like such simple things to more advanced seamstresses (or people who already have fancy machines) but I can see that this is going to make many things much easier for me.

I kept the heavier duty of my two Kenmores.  Partly because I think a back-up is always a good idea and partly because I do a lot of shirring with elastic bobbin and I think that probably is guaranteed to go smoother on a manual machine (plus I can just keep the machine set up with elastic thread, so I don’t have to keep switching).  And all the fancy presser feet I bought in the last year also fit this machine, so I can switch them between machines!

I am very excited about this.  I guess I better get cracking on my big list of projects.  In the past 18 months I have gone from a 14-stitch machine to a 25-stitch manchine, to this fancy, digital 60 stitch machine.  I can’t wait to start making better utton holes!  The next step in my sewing evolution (in a few years) is an embroidery machine.  Then I will have to go entirely to children’s sewing because I will want to embroider hippos on everything!