Let's Talk About..... My Bernina Sewing Machine
I’ve only ever had one sewing machine. It was given to me by my parents as a 21st birthday gift in Jan 1981. I wasn’t even 21, but I needed my own machine for the fashion college course I was on, so my parents advanced me my coming of age present. As the college machines were Bernina, and I liked them, I thought it was a good idea to get something similar. And how right I was. Because my machine has been a trojan, or more like a pack pony, strong, steady and reliable. Who knew I would still be using it 44 years later. £100 well spent.
I remember the day we bought it. It was early January 1981, and the January sales were in full swing, so my parents took me to a sewing machine shop on the Narborough Road, Leicester. For those of you that are not aware of the Narborough Road, it is a main road coming out of Leicester city centre, full of small independent shops, with an amazing amount of ethnic minorities trading their wares. A cultural smorgasbord of society.
I chose Bernina’s latest model the 900 Nova. It has a built in handle coming out the top, and it’s carrying case hinges around the compact machine. Perfect for taking it away to college and home again regularly.
It’s been serviced a few times over the years, but not that often, and something burnt out with smoke coming out the back at some point, but it got mended and resumed it’s duties. I oil it from time to time if it starts to sound like it needs it. But that’s it really, very self assuming, with very little fuss.
It has cogs on the inside for the various stitches, all very manual, with satisfying clunks as you turn the dial. No computer chips here. I wouldn’t know how to use a modern machine.
It has the capacity to do a few different embroidery type stitches, as well as a buttonhole stitch, an overlocker edge stitch to prevent fraying, and an invisible (almost) hemming stitch, using a different foot for each different stitch. It has the ability to drop the teeth that guide the fabric along. This means I can do free motion embroidery stitches, guiding the fabric in any direction. Great for textile artwork.
It’s also strong enough to go through tough fabrics like denim, and copes with delicate fabrics just as well. You just need the right sized needle for the job.
Obviously I made my own wedding dress and bridesmaids dress, in 1984, as I was making all my own clothes at that time. Bernina, a Swiss company, have been making sewing machines since 1893 with longevity and performance in mind. They have definitely lived up to their reputation. My machine is now in it’s 45th year and has probably slipped into the vintage bracket, but still works just as well as ever.
