Mimeo HE-209
January 1954 (3M)
Purdue University
Agricultural Extension Service
BUYING YOUR HOME SEWING MACHINE
The purchase of a sewing machine for home use is a lifetime investment. Machines of reputable manufacture are built to last for generations of use with only minor replacement of inexpensive parts. The cleaning, oiling, and adjustment of machines are within the ability of any homemaker and are the only maintenance necessary for continued good service.

Today’s choice of machines gives a wide range to fit the purchaser's needs and purse. It is often a bit confusing to make a decision. Your present needs may change as the family grows or the children leave to establish their own homes. No one machine is likely to have all the features you consider desirable, so a compromise is in order in selecting the machine that you consider best suited to your present and possible future needs.

Part of your decision should be made at home even before looking at different makes of machines.

The first point to settle is the kind of sewing for which you are buying the machine. Many use their machines only for occasional plain sewing, for patching, mending; or darning, or for the making of simple garments. For this work a straight-sewing machine is satisfactory. This type may be preferred by the woman whose chief interest is fine dressmaking and tailoring and who has little use for machine-made decorative effects.

To handle a wider range in stitch styles and for such specialty sewing as decorative stitching and embroidery; for the making of home furnishings, place mats, and napkins; and for seam finishing and buttonholes, the more versatile swing-needle or zigzag-type machines have recently come into use. These, in part, do the jobs intended for the attachments that come with the straight-sewing machines —and which are so seldom used. Your decision here is whether the specialty job is done often enough to warrant the added cost.

Another choice is between cabinet and portable machines. A cabinet with well-supported leaves and sturdy legs gives good sewing support and is ready for instant use. For any one machine head there are many cabinets to choose from. Since its main purpose is to house the machine, choose the cabinet from this standpoint. The extra cost of a fancy cabinet may better be invested in useful furniture. Where space is limited, as in small homes and apartments, or where a machine must often be moved from place to place, the portable is the usual choice. Same portables are fitted with an extension table for greater work surface; all can be set into a heavy work table flush with the top to give the same stability and work area as cabinet machines. Some portables are merely the regular