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20dollarlolita · 3 years ago

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How cheap can they make a sewing machine?

My job is to sell sewing machines. We basically sell two lines ("brands", though the same company runs both names). One is the $150-$400 range, and one is the $600-$18,000 range. There's a little bit of overlap with one low-range machine being almost $500 and two high-range machines being just under $550, but mostly there's the low line and the premier line.

People often come in with an expectation of what a sewing machine should do, and how much it should cost. It is not uncommon for those expectations to be incongruous with reality. Low-priced machines usually don't have the features that people who sew want their machine to have. The people who control stocking in my company have decided to largely have our budget line be machines that will meet people's expectations of features, even if that means all out models are out of the expected price range. We don't have a machine that's as cheap as you want, but we do have a machine that's as good as you expect it to be.

People are often surprised that our least-expensive machines are still over $150. However, I happen to have a sewing machine collection that includes several machines under $150, so I thought for funsies sake we could take a dive into my collection, as I talk about exactly how stripped-down the features can get on a sewing machine. There will be pictures so there is also a jump.

First, a little background:

This is the 4411. It's my favorite of the under $200 models my store carries. It's a very good balance of build quality and features. We're using stock pictures for this one and the next one, since I don't own them, but I have used them.

There's not a lot of features, but you get a fully adjustable stitch length and stitch width. If you're doing a zigzag, you can make it as wide or as narrow as you want. You can make it as long or as short as you want. The zigzag stitch can be simultaneously any length and any width.

A fully-variable control is expensive, because it could at any given time occupy a million different positions, and it has to work in all of them.

Two fully-variable controls are even more expensive, because a million times a million equals some precise machining parts and a lot of little spots in the variety that could go wrong.

So, let's take away that most expensive feature.

Singer Simple has no stitch width adjustment. This means that there's a million different length adjustments, but only 4 different width adjustments to test. A million times four is a lot less than a million times a million.

Many people are fine with this trade-off. In fact, the Simple has more stitches than the 4411. Those widths fill the basic needs of the basic sewist, and many people buying machines at this level don't actually feel that they're missing anything. There's more stitches, but at fixed widths. Much less to test, much less to go wrong. This makes the interior of the Simple much more simple.

But what if you could simplify it more? Any fully-variable control is going to be complicated. A million times four is still a big number.

So, take away the variability of it. The Janome Derby (also sold under numerous other names and brands, including the Singer M1000 Mending Machine, the Janome Mini, the New Home Derby, New Home FastLane, and a ton of other names. It's not manufactured by any of the brands that have their name on it) has ten stitches. You don't control the length. You don't control the width. You don't control the needle position. Your needs will either be met by one of these ten stitches or you will change your needs until one of these stitches can meet them.

We've gone from four million stitch positions to ten stitch positions. That is why the Janome Derby is under $100. Well, that and that the whole thing is plastic and it's not going to last more than a couple of months of regular use, even if you never stress the motor at all.

Side note, due to a bad inventory system, people often come into my store expecting a Singer Start ($120ish) to be in stock. Green Store's website will say it is, but the ones Green Store has "in stock" are damaged returns that can't be sold as per their contract with Norse Store where I work. It's a mess. I couldn't fix this problem when I worked at Green Store and I definitely can't fix it now. The Singer Start has nine fixed stitches. While it's marginally more powerful than the $70 Janome Derby, and does have some metal parts, the Derby actually has more stitches. Doing returns in my store gets pretty complicated due to commission, and most people who get the Singer Start want to return it after they try using it, so I hate selling it because it's exactly the same as not selling it except that there's more work involved.

So. $70 is cheap, but

so how do we make it cheaper?

Don't worry! We have a machine for that, too! I give you the Singer Tiny Tailor TT700 (As Seen On TV!) (Or, was seen on tv, circa about 1995)

Quick fun (not so fun) background story here: The 90's and early 2000's were a time where Singer was going through Some Shit. They were not making the money they needed to stay functioning, and someone up there in their company said, oH, hey, we've been putting our name on really high-quality machines since 1860, so people think everything we sell is high-quality! if we sell shitty stuff for cheap, people will buy it because they trust the Singer name. They weren't even subtle about it, as this 1991 commercial shows. The Singer Handystitch is still sold at Green Store and gets returned after it's sold probably 70% of the time because it just doesn't work very well. This was also around the time that the Singer Nostalgia line came out, which were just some really crappy reproductions of treadle Singer machines. I've got opinions on this time in history and now that I sell Singer machines, it's actually also a time period that has made my current job notably harder. Didn't save them from bankruptcy either. Rant over.

So, as far as I can tell, the Singer Tiny Tailor was Singer's first "Mending machine". That is their terminology for a machine that's not powerful or useful enough to be called a sewing machine. Their version of the Janome Derby is also a "mending machine".

The Tiny Tailor also has a high-quality television commercial. That woman makes some lovely facial expressions.

Tiny Tailor goes forward with long stitches. Tiny Tailor goes forward with shorter stitches. Tiny Tailor goes backwards. Tiny Tailor doesn't do very much else at all. It does have a retractable bobbin winder, which I think is a little adorable touch.

BUT. HOW DO WE MAKE IT...CHEAPER?

Let's meet the Euro Pro Dressmaker (also the Shark Dressmaker, the Sewing Genie, often sold without a brand as "Mini Sewing Machine". Again, the brands that are putting their name on these things are not the people manufacturing them).

It goes forward with one stitch length! It goes forward with that same stitch length, but SLOWER! That's what it does!! That's EVERYTHING it does!

To its credit, it does sew an actual lockstitch. If you sew a seam with this, and you tie off your ends, that seam isn't going to fall apart.

Executive voice: Okay. I get where you're going. But I need you to hear me out on this: Can you make it cheaper?

You know what's cheaper than a motor that goes at two speeds? NO MOTOR AT ALL. Just use your hand!

This is Sun Portable Hand Sewing Machine, in all its avocado green glory. It's a chainstitch machine, which has its own quirks. Most notably, you need to 100% resist the temptation to click this thing if the needle is threaded but there's no fabric under the foot. It will jam. If you need to use it as a clicky fidget toy, unthread the needle, and then click away.

If you use this in the way that it is supposed to be used, it will function in the way that was. If it skips on one stitch, because you didn't staple your hand down far enough for the hook to catch the thread, it will cause your entire seam to come apart! Yay chainstitches!!

Every time that I've used this, I've found myself wishing that I was just gluing the seam together instead. But you can make it work.

BUT.

CAN. WE GO. CHEAPER???

Well, back in 2017, we already did.

This is a crappy stapler machine, based on the original 1980's stapler machines, but made with zero care whatsoever. I got this one for $3 with free shipping!

It's exactly like the Sun stapler machine, except for, get this, it doesn't actually work. So yes, we can go cheaper, but not really without making a product that doesn't work.

CHEAPER!?!?!??!?!??!?!?!?!

Okay.

#long post #sewing machines #not lolita

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