Frugal Friday: Sewing on a Budget Part 1

If you're coming over from Biblical Womanhood-welcome! I hope this post is useful for you! And to my regular readers, I hope you can glean some tips as well! I'm going to break this series up over the course of a few weeks because WOW it's alot of information (either that or I just talk too much, which is very possible!), so come back next week for Part 2.
I started sewing about a year ago now, and while I am no expert, I think we can all agree that most times, making clothing for yourself or your family isn't always the most frugal way to clothe your family. Buying from yard sales, thrift stores, even retail clearance racks is generally cheaper than paying $8 a yard for fabric, plus whatever notions you need for each particular garment. I completely agree. But! It doesn't have to be that way. I know most Wal-Mart's have discontinued their fabric sections at this point, but I'm lucky to live within an hour of 3 that still haven't, as well as a Joann's Fabric and Hancock's. But the tips I've got for you today will help you even if you don't live near any of those.
First, the main expense is a sewing machine, at least starting off. My first machine was a Brother that I got off of Freecycle. It was a very standard machine which did a straight stitch and zig zag and that was it. But that is more than enough for most simple sewing and mending. I used that until about a month ago when Bobby (my husband) got me a higher end machine for my birthday and business use. More on that in a second. ALWAYS check Freecycle before making purchases of really any amount. Everything from dishes, to clothing, to cars are all things I've seen posted for free on our local list. Especially if you're a novice sewer, start simple, 9 times out of 10 a straight stitch is all you need, so get a decent machine without the 50 decorative stitches. My recommendation if you can't find one on Freecycle is your local sewing machine shop. My reason for that is two fold-1) you can get a better machine for your money and 2) you will always have someone you can call with questions.


When I bought my new machine, I started out buying one from Wal-Mart, thinking it was cheaper and would work fine. After less than 2 weeks, I was having problems with the tension and things, and had no one to call. So I started calling local sewing stores. I knew I couldn't afford any of the really awesome machines which often start at $1,000 and go UP from there, but one local store also carries the "lower-end" Singer machines. So I went in to check them out. They offered new owner classes with machine purchase for free to help you learn how to use the machine, as well as a trade-in program. When you trade in your machine within one year of date of purchase to a higher end model, you receive the full purchase price of the first machine as a credit towards the second. Now, to the average sewer, that's not generally a benefit, but for me since I am starting a business where my machine is my #1 tool, that's really great, since as my skills and business grow I will most likely need a better machine and this way, I can get the most "bang for my buck" so to speak, without being overwhelmed at first by features I don't know how to use.
They had 2 options within my budget, both were Singer Touch N Sew models. One was $249 (the same price I had paid for the Wal-Mart machine) and the other was $329. I was going to get the cheaper of the two, because it still did all I needed at this point, when the salesgirl let me know they had actually received a trade in of the higher end model if I was interested in that. Of course I was-they clean and service all trade in machines before offering them back up, so I knew it was in perfect working order already. The price? $239. Yup, $10 cheaper than the brand new lower end model. And I love this machine. Not an ounce of trouble with it so far, and if I do, I can call the store and get it fixed right away for nothing. It also came with 4 bobbins, a package of basic needles, 5 different feet, plus some little do dads for cleaning the machine and the like. I'm still learning how to use some of the features, but that is exactly what I planned, I wanted a machine that would enable me to learn how to do things like installing a zipper (done), making buttonholes (haven't tried), overlocking (done), and more.
The moral of the story is this, cheaper isn't always better as we all know. Sometimes paying a higher price is well worth the benefits you receive. In the case of the Wal-mart machine, which was also a Singer, but it was made by a specific division which doesn't make the good quality machines. The Singer dealer isn't even able to get parts to fix those machines, and if you're going to invest a couple hundred dollars in ANYTHING you want to be able to get it fixed if something breaks. Do your research before randomly buying a machine, find out what your local sewing shops offer and go from there.
Next week I'll cover getting fabric and notions CHEAP, and I mean CHEAP. So come back then for more great tips!