this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2023
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Sewing, Repairing and Reducing Waste
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A place to share ideas, knowledge and creations with textiles. The focus is on reducing waste, whether that be sewing from the scraps left from other projects, using the end of rolls and remnants, or repairing and remaking finished pieces.
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So...the first thing you need to understand is that there are different types of sewing machines, as someone commented on your original post. There are:
"Regular" sewing machines, which can be either mechanical or computerized. These are the type of machines virtually all hobbyists use and can handle a huge range of projects, from linen napkins to ballgowns. It's important to note that either the computer or the mechanical system determines stitch length and width.
Serging machines, which cut the fabric while sewing it, and make a single specialized stitch.
Embroidery machines. These are similar to "regular" sewing machines, but with a wider table and extra parts for stretching out the area you're embroidering. They also have a computer to track/calculate the stitches in a given embroidered image.
As far as I'm aware, software is only available for embroidery machines. The computers in anything less than the most expensive of home sewing machines are pretty simple, and I'm not even sure how you would access them. They don't connect to wifi, and there are no ports in the machines except for power and the foot pedal.
For the use cases you listed, I recommend a basic "regular" sewing machine such as this one. Any regular sewing machine built in the past several decades will be able to use a variety of stitches out of the box.
For repairing socks specifically, I agree with the other poster who talked about zigzag and stretch stitches.
There were many 2nd hand machines at a swap meet I went to. One of them included a box of accessories & spare parts. I get the impression the parts are not standardized on any of them which leaves me wondering if Singer is the only brand where I can expect to easily find parts for. I saw these:
Lot of others were Singers. None of the used ones were computerized.
I get the impression two needles are useful. Most of the machines only had 1 needle but some had two spool holders which I think implies a 2nd needle can be added. But then I don’t know if that puts me on a hunt for hard to find parts.
The other thing is the stitch pattern symbols on the knobs are hard to understand. Are all the non-linear symbols for stretch stitches?
Singer is one of the most popular brands so will be easiest to find parts for. Husqvarna and Brother are slightly less popular but still pretty popular. I've never heard of any other the other brands you listed. Some parts, like needles, are standardized. Others aren't.
You can't sew with two needles at once, but there is such thing as a double needle that's used for special cases. More than likely you won't need one. The second spool holder is most likely for 1) use with a double needle, 2) quickly swapping out thread colors or 3) actually a bobbin/spool winder and not actually for holding a spool you're using.
As for stitch pattern symbols, each symbol is supposed to look like the stitch it creates. I would recommend trying to find a video showing all the stitches for whatever machine you pick. If you can't find such a video, you can experiment with some scrap fabric.