Beginner Issues

I am Soooo frustrated. I want so bad to be a seamstress! My mother was excellent at sewing. When she passed away, I inherited her two machines, plus I have one that my husband bought me about seven years ago. Her's are a Singer 8422 and a Janome Memory Craft 300e. Mine is a Brother SC 9500. I've tried repeatedly from my teenage years to get the hang of all this. I think I'm just illiterate when it comes to sewing. I can never get material cut straight, I can't seem to be able to sew a straight line, I can't make a sewing machine work the way it's supposed to, I am just frustrated.

I got all the machines out last week and cleaned them all up well, inside and out. I've used the embroidery machine several times to play with it and I really enjoy it. It seems to work well. She bought it used in about 2008 and never even used it other than to monogram a few towels. I think the computerized factor scared her off. I've figured out how to set it up for basic stuff, load files, even get files off the Internet and use them.

My Brother is having serious tension issues. It doesn't change regardless of what I set the dial to. It's like the tension isn't really working. Other than that, it seems to do ok.

The Singer is a workhorse! That being said, it has its own issues. Currently, I can't get the fabric to feed through the dogs at the beginning of the fabric. It catches if I push the material into it about an inch, but it will randomly just pause occasionally. I can't get the tension really correct on it either. And it will skip stitches every now and then.

We have a good sewing machine store/repair shop in town and I'm going to bring them all three in one at a time for a tuneup. I'm absolutely sure that the two older ones desperately need it after sitting for over ten years. And I'm sure the Brother needs work too, especially to check out that tension.

But apart from all that, why do I have such a hard time just doing the basics? I know I'm probably just impatient and get frustrated easy, but why do other people make it look so easy??? 😆

I'd welcome any tips for a newbie.