A Very Nice Machine With A Few Flaws
Thursday, February 1, 2018
This may be a repeat review. My cat stepped on my keyboard and sent my un-completed review a minute ago. I will start over, please discard the first review if it arrived to you.
Overall, the S7 is a very nice machine. I replaced a lemon machine of another brand with the S7. I am happy with the machine, but it has a few flaws that make it a bit awkward. The needle threading button is poorly placed. It gets in the way when replacing feet, or needles. This makes it difficult to change the feet and to detatch and attach the ankle (foot holder). I have small-ish "lady hands", so that is not the problem. I see that the newer machine (S9?) has an improved design in that area. I do like that the nose of the machine actually opens up, so I can remove accumulated lint etc. The needle threader works well, as well as the cutter, which has been a big "fail" in other machines I have owned. The biggest flaw is that the walking feet do not engage the little arm that grabs the top layer of fabric as soon as I start to sew, I have to advance the beginning of each seam around 1/2", which leaves the first part of each seam un-sewn. Using the reverse just makes the fabric bunch up, especially at the end of the seam. I have been advised to use a leader when sewing, but a machine of this class should not require that extra step. Using the lock stitch button does not help at the beginning of a seam, but it often does at the end of a seam. The automatic buttonhole foot is a sewer's dream. Love that. The lighting is good, and the stitch quality is very nice. Except for the alphabets, those are only so-so. I still have to use my old standby machine from the 80s to do anything heavy like jeans hems, sewing on medium to heavy home-dec weight fabrics. This is a great machine for everyday sewing, quilting, but don't ask it to do the heavyweight stuff.