bit-tech Shopping: Singer 7470 Confidence Electronic Sewing Machine

Rating: 2

Time with product: 7 Days

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: Cheap plastic, horrible machine

Summary: I bought this machine at Joann's when it was on sale for $399. I had it for a week. During the week, the machine had a lot of issues. It ran really rough. I sew a lot of flannel and velcro, and it made a loud "clunking" sound when sewing through the velcro. It also bunched up a lot under the bobbin causing a "nest" of thread under my fabric. The thread kept breaking, it was just a very lightweight and cheaply made machine. I especially wouldn't recommend sewing heavy fabric with it, I sewed denim once and it stopped and beeped at me and wouldn't sew so I had to change fabrics. If you're a light sewer (like you only sew a couple times a month) this machine "might" work for you. But if you sew a lot like I do, this machine will NOT hold up. After having all these issues for a week, on the 7th day it finally just DIED. I went to start sewing with it, the needle went down once, and then beeped and wouldn't work. I tried EVERYTHING. I even called the 800# that Singer provided with the machine and every time I called, I got a busy signal! Needless to say, it was brought immediately back to Joann's store and I got my money back. I paid $399 as it was on sale that week, but I wouldn't buy another one if they had a $50 clearance sale on it.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 2 Weeks

Strengths: Easy to use; can do everything, sews through multiple layers of fabric

Weaknesses: I haven't found one yet

Summary: I researched my machine purchase for almost a year before I settled on this one. After inheriting multiple machines from my mom over the years, I was finally ready to buy my own. I love that this machine does all of the basic chores that I knew I needed and enough extras to let my imagination go nuts on my projects.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 1 Week

Strengths: Even stitches; so many different stitches with many options; can do monograms or continuous character sewing.

Weaknesses: It was hard for me to grasp how to thread the bobbin, took me a few hours to get strted. It took me a little while to remember what all the different buttons did.

Summary: I saved for 4 months for this machine and it is well worth it. First I like it because it is pretty light weight. The book shows the different stitches and most of them have variables that can change the width and length of the stitches. It has a setting that allows you to set a stitch for a mirror edge and this will be really useful because I used to have to turn my project around to get the stitches I was using to make a pattern. It sews very smooth. It has an automatic threader but I haven't tried it yet. It also has a stitch that resembles a hand quilted stitch. I really love my machine and can't wait to really get in to using it for quilting. I am so happy with it and would recommend it to everyone.