When I took Ray White's sewing machine repair course, I tried to ask the Elna man himself what his favorite machine was. While I don't think he wanted to bias the class by singling out one machine, he did speak very highly of the Elna Carina. I was intrigued. I had never seen a Carina, nor was I able to observe one being worked on in the classroom, so I made a mental note to keep an eye out for one of these and see for myself what all the hype was about.
It seems like forever since I reviewed the Bernina 730 Record. Today we'll be looking at the next incarnation in the Bernina x30 series, the ever-popular, 830. This workhorse holds an 11 year 'record' for being Bernina's top of the line offering between 1971 to 1982. Now that's a long time! This, is undoubtably one of the most sought after vintage Berninas on the aftermarket today. Let's find out why.
A while back, I reviewed the Pfaff 138--a highly versatile industrial machine capable of both straight and zigzag stitches. Today, I'll cover the Chandler 217, often considered one of the kings of versatility, this is one the most sought after industrials due to its amazing build quality and feature set. As a bonus, I'll be doing a comparison between the 138 and 217--two of my favorite industrials
As a mail order supplier, Sears Roebuck had a seemingly endless number of Kenmore sewing machines. With myriad model numbers, it can get quite confusing to keep things straight. A couple weeks ago, I reviewed a Kenmore 117.720 made by the White Sewing Machine Company circa 1957. Today, we'll fast forward 15 years and take a look at a more modern Kenmore 158.1316, a zigzag and stretch capable machine.
When it comes to vintage sewing machines, few are as well known as the Singer 201. Originally manufactured back in the 1930s, this amazing piece of post war engineering represented the top of the line in sewing technology and remained a best seller for years to come despite it's prohibitively high cost. Most domestic machines available at this point were offered as a hand crank or treadle unit, but the 201 had the option of an electric motor!
