My Current Sewing Machine

I wrote about my first sewing machine a few weeks ago and added it to the list of sewing machine reviews over at Sew Mama Sew. When that machine broke last fall, I decided to buy a new one! Here are my thoughts on it…

What brand and model do you have?

I have a Brother Innov-is 85e — an 80-stitch computerized machine in the Project Runway Limited Edition series. It’s pretty similar to my first machine in terms of what stitches it does, but has some additional features that I didn’t have before.

How long have you had it?

I bought it in November 2013 during my day at the Quilt Festival.

How much does that machine cost?

I bought it from a local sewing shop, Sew Contempo here in the Clear Lake area of Houston. They were having a sale thanks to the festival so that worked out well. I’ve already forgotten exactly how much I paid, but I think it was around $350.

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?

All of the above! In the 4 months I’ve been using this machine though, I’ve only done quilt piecing and a few bags. Fabric-wise, this means it’s been 90% quilting cotton — although I did use it to sew through a bit of clear vinyl the other day as part of a see-through pocket in a bag I’m making.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?

I’ve been doing a lot of stitching lately — probably more stitching than sewing. So far, this machine has probably been used a few hours each month. I just started a new quilt yesterday though, so it’ll be seeing a lot of run time in the next few weeks.

(Please ignore the massive mess surrounding my machine in the photo above. And yes, it is still living on our dining room table. C’est la vie.)

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?

To be honest, I can’t see a vast difference between this one and my first one so I’m somewhat ambivalent. But there are a couple added features that I do appreciate, so overall I like it so far and am glad I bought it.

What features does your machine have that work well for you?

This machine has 3 new-to-me features that I enjoy. First, I can control the stop position of the needle (up or down) with the press of a button. I could do this on my old machine, but it was a little more complicated. Next, I like that it came with a table extension included. I had thought about getting one of these to add to my old machine but never did, and now I’m glad I have it — the extra table space is helpful, I think.

And finally: speed control! I didn’t have this on my old machine and I LOVE it. It’s really nice to be able to adjust the maximum sewing speed and know that the machine won’t race off if I accidentally press the pedal too hard.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?

There’s one big thing that bugs me about this machine, and that’s the thread cutting blade location. My old machine had it on the back, which for me was a really convenient spot. This machine has it on the side, which for some reason just doesn’t feel as natural to me. On top of that, the upper thread feeds much more freely through the machine than it did on my old one. What this means is that when I go to cut the threads after finishing a stitch, sometimes it doesn’t cut since I didn’t get the angle to the blade right, and I end up pulling a bunch of thread through that I didn’t mean to since it feeds so easily.

This is a minor annoyance so it’s not a huge deal, but I do find myself wishing they had left the cutting blade on the back like it was on my cheaper machine!

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?

Yes I would. I debated internally a lot about which machine to buy when my old one broke. I was tempted to buy something more expensive (and the sewing shop certainly tried to sell me one) but in the end it was hard to me to justify the increase in price to $500 or even $1000 because it didn’t seem like I was actually getting much more. The added features weren’t features I need right now. So the Innov-is 85e gave me an increase in quality and some new features without a huge increase in price. It hit the sweet spot for me.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?

Like I said in the post about my first machine: “It’s easy to get starry-eyed over nifty features and fancy stitches, but I think the most important thing is just to figure out what you want to sew (quilts? apparel? embroidery?) and that will drive what features you need.”

(Yes, I just quoted myself.)

Do you have a dream machine?

Nope. Although if you have a suggestion of what SHOULD be my dream machine and why, I’m all ears!