The Machine:
Wow! The launch of the new Singer One Plus sewing machine was something to see. Watched several of the demonstrations by Darlene Cahill because you always learn something new. The machine looks like a combination of the One sewing machine with the wide base, large compartment for accessories, silver decals and the swoop at the top left, and the new format buttons for changing stitches, etc. like on the XL-550 and the SEQS-6700. Very cool looking machine. This machine has 231 stitches. Neat thing about the HSN launches is that usually there is a value added package and there is usually one extra flex pay. There were 19 feet and the guide bar listed. It comes with the flower foot, sew and cut, roller foot, fringe foot, piping foot and more. One can see all this on the HSN dot com site. There is a video posted now. The machine sold out before the last demonstration. I almost caved and bought one.The other Singer machine demonstrator, Vivian Lavinskas, said the memory would hold if you had to leave and run an errand or whatever and came back, your stitch pattern would be saved. I did not hear Darlene say that during the times I watched her demonstrate the machine. On the SEQS-6700, Darlene said it had a working memory and when the machine is shut off, the memory clears. I guess one has to keep paper and pen handy to write down your stitch sequences so you don't forget and lose them. A good idea to keep a stitching journal for each machine you own.
The Parallel Foot:
The Newest Foot demonstrated was the Parallel Foot that Darlene says her son,George, likes so much and uses for his general sewing because it holds things in place better while sewing. I looked on the Singerco site last night and it is not listed anywhere that I could find. I surfed the net for awhile and found the foot on Youtube and it is called a Border Guide Foot by Janome and Janome has a demo on it. Actually I found two videos on it, but the real Janome video explains how to use it properly. The wide platform of the foot is a handy but stationary guide for placing rows of stitching. If you have the quilting guide bar, it serves the same purpose without spending close to $25 to get it. Janome info has it as a 9mm foot and I believe that the Singer machines mentioned in this blog are all at 7mm in foot width.I found that Amazon had the Janome Border Guide feet for $17.99 with $4.99 S/H. One customer comment -- the only one at this date -- at Amazon gave it a one star rating. Apparently the center piece broke on the second use and left the foot looking like an open toe foot with the side platforms. I'm guessing that the little piece that went across the front, bridging the platforms, in front of the needle possibly helped to stabilize the whole thing, and there is a small red mark in front of the needle. That is the tiny piece that broke off for that customer.
Update 2/2/2013: Found another place to purchase the foot, lots cheaper at $9.95 plus shipping -- at InternetSalesUSA.com .
In using the foot, Darlene says to watch the marking (to the right or left) and not the needle. Apparently watching the needle is the fascinating part for most anyone but does not insure straight stitching, as the guide marks or side of the foot do.
It will be interesting to see how the quality works out on this one after a few customers receive their machine and put comments in on the HSN site.
