Nora: First (Mis)Adventures with My New BERNINA Sewing Machine!

November 29, 2018

Hey all, Nora here!

Another long hiatus with a lot keeping me busy (follow me on Instagram to see what I have been up to) but I don’t wan’t to spend time on that today because I have something very exciting to show off and talk about:

That’s right! Like Faye, I recently splurged– on my first BERNINA sewing machine. The team at Linda Z’s Sewing Center helped me pick out the right machine so I know this particular model, the BERNINA  530 E, will let me do everything I want with room to grow, felt great when I tried it, and was a price I was comfortable paying. Plus it gets great reviews. More than anything, I truly saw and felt a difference when I tried the BERNINA machines. Overall, a good investment and isn’t she a beauty? And…the gold!

I was so excited I finally cleaned out my mess of a home “office” to clear a proper spot for her.(Ok, I’ll stop personifying my new sewing machine now.) I imagine my stack of fabric and related supplies will mount up as my sewing prowess also increases. Ha! I’ll surely outgrow this cozy spot, but for now this will do. (I am sure my husband is rolling his eyes at this point).

After getting all set up, I sat down to thread my machine and quickly consulted the BERNINA site to take advantage of their video tutorials which were very helpful, but I much prefer and benefit from hands-on help with nearly everything at this point. Highly supervised sewing sounds fun, right?  Observe an expert, try with guidance, discuss, try again is my learning style.

Long story short, my mom came over and helped me change the foot, thread the machine, load a bobbin, and get started with free-motion quilting practice. I was off and running on my own and for a few days I was able to FMQ when I had a few minutes here or there, usually during nap time.

Then, the other day, I was trying a few of my own motifs,  including a  turkey for Thanksgiving, when I ran out of fabric and thats is when things went downhill.

I attempted to swap in a new quilt sandwich and start quilting again when the thread went MIA and the bobbin started spinning extra threads at me. Gulp. I texted my mom and sister but their advice, while supportive, wasn’t terribly specific. I at least knew not to yank on the threads but could not come up with an alternative so in my panic and at the advice of a YouTuber, a screw driver came out and before I knew it, I was staring at the guts of my sewing machine. Yikes!


Eventually I cleared all the lost and excess threads, screwed the shell back on, flipped off my machine, walked out of the room, closed the door, and thought about pouring myself a glass of wine (it wasn’t even close to 5 o’clock).

A couple days later my mom again came to my rescue and helped me troubleshoot.  She even threw in a lesson on changing needles and oiling your machine. Why not? I took notes.

I am back up and running again and making an effort to sit down at my machine everyday, even for just a few minutes, to practice a FMQ motif. The reality is I am usually pulled away to another task like laundry or a toddler who needs attention, but I hope the consistent use will make me more comfortable with the machine and ready to move on to a bigger project, but more on that next time!


Any sewing machine tips or tricks for a new sewer? To avoid disaster?

Until next time…

Nora

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