I am on the market for a new top of the line Sewing machine, just getting started and have a budget of $400.00, am looking at sewing designs on clothes, and even create new pieces of clothing.
I am also looking for blank shirts, hats, jumpers of high quality.
If anyone can help, please give model numbers etc :)
Good luck - and if you find one that does the lot (or even a few of the requirements) - please tell me.
I started down this research path on behalf of my wife several years ago. It went like this… If you wanted to produce neat, well-stitched buttonholes that don't just come apart, you should buy sewing machine A. If you want to make good cotton (linen-type) shirts, you need machine B. If you want decorative stitches you buy machine C (and on it goes).
In other words, no one machine will do all (or even a few of) what's needed - apparently).
It was even suggested to me in a sewing forum that if we wanted to produce good buttonholes for instance, we should speak to a sewing machine service technician first, ask him what machine he recommended, then have him set it up just for that purpose and only use it for that. Their point was, if a machine is 'tuned' to do good buttonholes, it probably won't produce good results on its other settings.
You probably know this, but an overlocker really is a must. Janome overlocker ('sergers' in the USA) are the most copied/rebadged, and have the cheapest accessories (ruffle, ribbon, and bead feet and attachments).
I bought several overlocker feet from the USA for my wife's Janome. They came with a list of other models/brands they fit. They also fit certain Pfaff models (but not all), Juki, and others… Obviously not all bits are compatible with all models, but as I said, Janome (several years ago at least) had the most interchangeable (and less-expensive) overlocker accessories.
I haven't looked at sewing machines much in the last few years, but back then if we were to buy a new machine my wife could have some decorative stitches, a button hole foot, do a little embroidery, Husqvarna was probably going to be what we purchased.
The trouble with computerised (embroidery) machines was things like… only working on Windows 95/98. Or only able to access embroidery artwork using a diskette drive. Once your computer expired, windows upgraded, or a disk drive failed, you couldn't use the machine any more!
My wife lost interest for several years, but just before she did, we test-drove a promising computerised machine that I believe was a Singer… Instead of multiple coloured cottons (like Janome was doing with it's 9000/10000/11000 series of embroidery machines), you put one normal spool of colour thread in at a time. Once the machine was finished sewing that colour, it told you to put the next colour in.
The guy said that model was the start of manufacturers doing away with the proprietary software and hardware problems by installing a printer driver in Windows, using a single cable and 'printing' directly from any software program. (Probably a USB cable, but I forget now.)
But I haven't looked into it for a few years now. Did they go that way? I don't know - maybe someone else does.
I do know it takes days/weeks of research, and just when you think you've selected the right machine, something else comes out of a salesman's mouth you didn't know you needed to know.
So where do you start? The old biddie… er, ladies, in the sewing forum would always say to start by deciding what you want to do most with the machine - post that info - and wait for the suggestions to roll in. Maybe that's still the way to go… i.e. find a sewing forum as they'll all be up with the latest models and their limitations.