Cover Stitch Decisions

I'm lucky enough to have 2 dealers in town who carry cover stitch machines, so I went to All About Sewing to test drive the Janome 1000CPX, now on sale for $499, then I went to America Sew and Vac to see the Baby Lock. (No, I will not provide a link to AS&V.) The Janome was similar to the Brother I tried last weekend, and this version has 3-needle capability, as opposed to the 900 model which only had 2 needles. It also has an automatic tension loosener when you raise the presser foot, which the Brother didn't have - you pushed two buttons at the top to do that. I could do that fine with no big deal, but I'd also have to order the Brother on-line, and with the Janome, I have the luxury of taking it right in for service or questions.

Next, I went to AS&V, where I used to have my Brother sewing machine serviced, till the owner gave me the creeps and put a hard sale on me for an embroidery machine I told him I didn't want. I had gone in straight from work wearing scrubs, and he asked me if I was a nurse. When I told him (cringing the whole time) that I was a doctor, he said I could afford the top-of-the-line embroidery machines he was pushing, and argued with me for 10 minutes about why I needed one. I haven't darkened his door again till now...and I'm sorry I did. He showed me the Baby Lock Evolution, which is the combo serger/cover, so I asked about the stand alone cover stitch that Baby Lock makes. He says, "There's no such thing." (Huh?) He goes on about how it's a "cover and chain stitch" machine, there's no such thing as a stand alone cover stitch machine. (Well alright, sir, you have proven I'm an idiot.) I mention that I tried a Brother cover stitch machine, whereupon he tells me that Brother does not MAKE one. The only ones who make them are Janome, Baby Lock, Bernina, and Elna. My mouth must've dropped open, but I wanted to see what else he would lie about, so I let him keep talking. He told me the Evolution in front of me cost $1100, and that the BL cover and chain machine was a little less than that, but was a very slow seller and not popular at all, so I should go for the Evolution. Then he traded off to the other lady in the store, who might be his daughter or some other relative. After he walked off, I asked her how much the Evolution was - somewhere around $2300! How does this man stay in business?

I let her do her spiel and give me some brochures, and I tried to keep an open mind about the machine, but he just spoiled it for me. I've checked out the posts Debbie Cook wrote about the different machines that Becky pointed me to, and I've checked out Pattern Review too, and I don't think I can go wrong with any of them. Given that it's at my local dealer, it's on sale, and Deepika at PR bought one, I'm going with the Janome. (Didn't that feel like House Hunters on HGTV where the couple sits down and discusses which of the 3 houses they want?) WHEW - that feels like a weight off my shoulders now!

In other news, check out this monster spider in our backyard. Is that a banana spider? He tried to sabotage the chicken legs Drew and I were grilling, but Dean came out and ran interference for us.


And it was Lucas's 11th birthday, but this one was a lot different than the year we gave him a sewing machine - remember that? He's a big boy in the Boy Scouts now, so we gave him some camping gear, including a Buck knife, that was the big hit.


Have a great weekend!