When a Singer Conks Out After 3 Months…

Welcome, Janome. Please last a heck of a lot longer than 3 months.

What happened to the Singer, Deb?

The short story is Singer shot themselves in the foot. My machine started to go through these cycles of being really difficult to turn the handwheel and having to murder the foot pedal to get it to go. It would sew a few stitches like that (stitches sewed fine, no skipping or anything) and then suddenly free up for a little while, and then seize up again. Needless to say, it became impossible to have any kind of control over what I’m doing.

1st phone call to Singer: cut off before I even got to talk to anyone because they randomly closed. I say randomly because the hours they listed while I was on hold were obviously wrong.

2nd phone call to Singer: sat on hold for like an hour; gave up and sent an email. Told them I cleaned it, there were no tangles, there’s no warranty center in my state, will the warranty be void if a local shop repairs it?

2 weeks later, the email response tells me (in questionable English) to clean my machine and includes helpful™ directions on how to thread it. As if I haven’t been threading it for months already. They ignore my warranty question. Having zero tolerance for cut-and-paste “support”, I reply and say how unhelpful they are and that they totally ignored my warranty question. Their answer was sorry, we’re not technical support (then what are you?), here’s the timeframe which your warranty is good for (yeah, I already have a paper that says that), google local repair shops in your internet. (Literally, they told me to “open my internet.”)

So all that translates to a big fat f*** you from Singer. Thanks for wasting 2 weeks of my life.

I took it to a local repair shop I had saved while waiting for Singer’s email response to orbit Saturn a few times before reaching me. That turned out to be an enlightening experience. I sat down with them, described what was happening, and they gave me a very basic repair option (would not involve taking the machine apart) for like $50, or their standard repair option which was $109 (and that’s if it doesn’t need parts.) For $3 more, I could just buy an entirely new machine, which the nice woman was urging me to not get it repaired. She basically said these $100-ish machines are throw-away.

I’m actually still trying to wrap my head around that. Buy a machine, and if something goes wrong, it’s best to just chuck it and get a new one. Seems painfully wasteful. So I opted to not do any repairs. She called the tech while I was there to clear a lower price with him, and she referred to my machine as “one of those gray Singers”, as if they are infamous.

Anyhoo, brought it home, and since we had nothing to lose, I had the hubby take it apart, added some lube in some places that rub against other places, put it back together, and the problem was still there.

And that’s the story of how my Janome happened.

My sewing drought ended tonight with learning my way around this machine and tackling a little quilted glasses case (yet unfinished). Which also involved learning how to make bias tape, which sounds less than impressive when you can just buy the stuff. Turns out, it’s actually incredibly and oddly satisfying. (Here is the bias tape maker set I got. I imagine, if I get on the bias tape bandwagon, it’s going to save me a bunch of money, and I’ll have much prettier bias tape in any fabric print I desire.)

More about the machine…

What I love:

• That variable speed control slider on the front. Can you hear the angels singing?
• A whole bunch of fun stitches to play with, including extra button holes.
• This fabulous extension table. I was always highly annoyed (especially with knits!) by the way fabric flopped over the edge of my old machine while sewing.
• The fact that it works. And now having experienced what a handwheel should feel like when you turn it. Which is not like you’re unscrewing something difficult to unscrew.
• Didn’t think I’d care about the little pin cushion it came with that pops into the extra spindle hole at the top, but it’s kind of awesome.
• It’s quiet.
• The manual is so much more helpful than the manual that came with my Singer.
• Has all the features I wanted: one-step button hole, two spool pins so I can run a twin needle, fits the bobbins I already have, must-have stitches (straight, zigzag, overedge, double overedge), free arm, low shank, droppable feed dogs, and because it’s worth mentioning again, speed control.

What I’m not digging:

• That little bit of control that’s taken away by the computer trying to help you out, like with lock-stitches and automatic back-tacking stitches, and the needle stopping in the up (or down if you set it that way) position. To do these helpful little things, it takes it upon itself to stop where it chooses to stop, which is annoying. The optimist in me says I just need to get used to it and learn to anticipate. Let’s hope so.
  • Update: Over a month later, I’m less annoyed by this feature. It was just a matter of learning the feel of my machine and, as I guessed, learning to anticipate where it will stop.
• Something feels off about the needle position. Trying to get a zig-zag stitch to play nice with my overcast foot and button foot and edge stitch foot was discouraging. It’s like the needle moves way too far to the right no matter what the settings are, which means it’s always about to hit some part of all my wonderful presser feet. This is the biggest drawback and I hope I can figure out the issue. I love my collection of presser feet. I’m wondering if I should try to hunt down a Janome-specific overcast foot just to compare and see if it’s a foot problem or a machine problem. I might do that, if it’s possible. I could always change out the needle to see if it’s that.
  • Update: I solved this. It was an incompatibility issue with my presser feet and Janome. More details here.
• The incremental needle position controlled by the computer and numbers. I already miss the precision I had with a mechanical adjustment of stitch width, which slides the needle left/right rather than jumping it to set positions.
• The removable stitch diagram is kind of bizarre. I’m toying with the idea of attaching it to the front. Will cover up that paisley design. I’m debating how much I care about that. Or I could scan it to paper and size it so it only uses that empty space on the front. I might just do that.
  • Update: The bizareness of the stitch diagram faded quickly. I actually love it. Instead of scanning and attaching a copy to the front, I made a list of stitch names (work in progress) to put in that blank front space.
• The automatic needle threader likes to shred the thread. Maybe I’m doing something wrong.
  • Update: This happens less and less the more I use it. I think it’s user error when it happens.
• The accessory tray doesn’t flip open; you literally have to remove it from around the free arm to get to anything inside it. Also, there’s a big old hole at the end of it. So….can’t put anything smaller than that in there. When we finally get a house with space and I can have a glorious sewing set-up that is not on the kitchen island, I probably won’t care so much about that.
• Haven’t figured out how to sew in reverse using the handwheel. Holding the reverse button doesn’t seem to work. Lame.
  • Update: Doesn’t seem to be possible to manually reverse stitch. However, I’ve learned to work around it when I need to by stopping with the needle down, rotating my piece 180 degrees, and stitching forward instead.

I just have to keep at it and get used to it, I think. Learn the nuances and what not.

I’ll finish this glasses case, probably make a fleece beanie or two, and then finally piece together my version of the Bibi skirt. My pattern pieces have been cut and waiting for weeks now. If that goes well, I’ll finally have that high-waisted pencil skirt that’s been impossible to find in stores.