Had to choose between fixing my old sewing machine or buying a new one

I started a quilt last spring and got about halfway through when my vintage Singer started making this awful grinding noise. I took it to a repair shop downtown and they quoted me $180 to fix the timing and replace some gears. That's about what a basic new machine costs at the store. I went back and forth for two weeks, reading reviews and watching videos. I finally decided to fix the old one because it has metal parts instead of plastic and my grandma gave it to me. It took three weeks for them to get the parts in, but now it runs quieter than ever. The only thing is I lost my momentum on the quilt and it's still sitting in a box. Has anyone else had this kind of fix-or-replace struggle with a hobby tool? What did you end up doing?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_perez9d ago

$180 for a sewing machine fix, that's almost half a new one.

robertb309d ago

Yeah but @miles_perez, a good repair can make that machine run for another ten years easy. I got my old Kenmore fixed for $150 two years ago and it's still going strong. A new $400 machine is gonna be plastic junk that breaks in a year. Sometimes spending the money on a fix is the smarter move.