Wednesday, April 2, 2014

meet miss bernina

You may remember that my serger was not working, well I have good news! Mr. Sew Rachel was able to fix it! It seems that the throat plate had shifted and was blocking the needle entry, thus causing the terrifying breaking and flying needles. Yay!

But then.... my Singer broke. Boo! The part that lifts the foot was no longer lifting. Mr. Sew Rachel was not able to diagnose that one, so off to the sewing machine shop I went. And that's when I met Miss Bernina...

Some little old lady had just traded her in for a new, fancier model, but had obviously taken very good care of it. Even without any cleaning or tune up she sewed so straight and smooth and quiet! I had an impulsive moment.... and I bought it.

The following day, after a cleaning and tune-up,  here is how she came home to me in her case Not that I plan on taking her places... she's pretty much all metal, inside and out, and wicked heavy!

The previous owner kept in her beautiful shape, with all the original parts and then some. I wonder if I'll ever use a knee-operated foot-lifter...

She is a model 930, probably a brand new equivalent would be the Bernina 1008. The folks at the store (South Portland Sewing Centre - a nice family run business that services all machines in house!) stayed with me a 1/2 hour after closing to go over all her features and dials.


And did I mention her feet? They included all the feet the original owner had, which is a lot! I didn't know that Bernina feet were all labeled with a number, so I can look up exactly what every foot is for.


Look at all those bobbins!

I've already finished one garment on her and will post soon, along with an update on my StyleARC Marie Jacket. In the meantime, who wants to guess how old she is?

9 comments:

  1. What a wonderful buy! Bernina seems to be 'the' machine and this one looks in such great condition - never mind the bonus of all those feet and metal bobbins! Hmm - am I guessing the age of the little old lady or the machine... oh, the machine. Right. I think 15 years (and that's no googling and very little knowledge!).
    Good luck with it and enjoy! I love reading stories about sewing machine purchases and new toys.

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    1. I'm really enjoying it, not that I was terribly disappointing with my singer. But the singer did need repair a couple of times, and I could only find a few feet for it and either couldn't use all the features because of the lack of feet, or just because I never learned how. Now I have all the tools and knowledge to do everything on the Bernina! And I'll give you a clue... she and I were born in the same decade :)

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  2. Fantastic!!!
    Mum owns an industrial sewing machine with the knee-operated foot lifter - so handy!! I remember using the machine when I was ten.
    Breaking, flying needles sound horrifying!

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    1. I have never tried a knee operated foot lifter... maybe I should! And yes... flying needled are horrifying! Even fixed I'm now using my serger very slowly and with my body far away... :P

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  3. So glad your serger is fixed now and what a fab new machine :) you will love the knee operated foot lifter ;)

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    1. Thanks! I guess I'll have to give that knee lifter a try... you are the second one to comment on how fab it is!

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  4. What a fantastic buy, I have heard that Berninas are absolute power horses and are very reliable

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    1. So far she's been awesome. Especially since she's older than I am and still runs so quiet and smooth!

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  5. You really got lucky there! All those feet! I have a knee lifter thingy...and no, I've never used it. Maybe I should!

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