Sewing Machines Under £100

Here, you will find a list of sewing machines currently on the market, for under £100 (correct as of 30/10/2020). They are inexpensive, very basic, and great if you want to give sewing a go for the first time. If you then decide that sewing isn’t for you, starting up won’t have broken the bank.

There is always an argument that going too simple can be detrimental to the sewing journey of the beginner sewist. These machines will not necessarily have some of the time-saving functions that sewists love (e.g. automatic needle threader, automatic thread cutter, automatic bobbin winding). This can deter some sewists and create a barrier to sewing, stopping them from starting projects. I think having a very simple machine is a great way of helping new sewists to learn the basics of sewing for themselves. It’s all part of the joy of sewing and will leave you even more in love with this pastime. It also means that you’ll have a machine that you aren’t afraid you’ll break, or afraid to make mistakes on.

DISCLAIMER: Clicking on the photos will take you to the website where the particular sewing machine can be purchased. There are NO affiliate links. I found these machines by doing a brief Google search. This is a non-exhaustive list. Make sure you do your own research before investing in a sewing machine. I haven’t used any of these machines myself, so I cannot provide a review, nor can I vouch for their quality. There are reviews available online.

Sew Crafty Midi Sewing Machine £29.99

Hobbycraft Mini Sewing Machine £33

Sew Amazing Sewing Station Machine £40

Hobbycraft Midi Sewing Machine (available in various colours) £50

Silver 12 Stitch Mini Sewing Machine £59

Sew Amazing Studio Machine £60

Hobbycraft 19S Sewing Machine £75

Brother LS14s Manual Stitch Sewing Machine £80

Brother LK14S Sewing Machine £89

Singer M1605 Sewing Machine – Exclusive to Hobbycraft £100

Singer 1409 Promise Sewing Machine £100

Get Sewing Machine Savvy

You don’t need a sewing machine to sew. Hand sewing is a craft in itself. Knowing the basics of sewing by hand will always stand you in good stead for any sewing project. However, purchasing a sewing machine usually comes at the top of the list for those who are new to sewing. I remember how challenging it was choosing my first ever sewing machine. For that reason, I’ve provided some important points to consider before investing in a sewing machine. They’ll help you to choose the best one for you.

How Much to Spend – Budget

Have a budget in mind when searching for a sewing machine. It’s very easy to get carried away looking at machines with all the bells and whistles, then spending too much money on a machine. Be clear on how much you want to spend before you start looking.

Machine Condition – Brand New Vs. Second-hand

In most cases, your budget will determine this choice. A shiny, new machine is always an exciting purchase but it’s important to stick to your budget. Second-hand machines can be a fantastic, affordable option. Just make sure you do your research. Find out the last time the machine was serviced. Check and make sure that the machine is in good working order before any money is exchanged. If you don’t feel happy, don’t buy the machine (this also applies to buying a brand new machine).

Where to Look – Online Vs. Local

Visiting a local sewing machine dealer or sewing shop is great for three main reasons. Firstly, you get to support your local businesses. Always a win! Secondly, you get to view the machine in person and be hands on. Thirdly, you can get free, in-store tuition on the machine you’ve purchased. If you have any questions or issues with your machine, they can be dealt with quickly, in person.

Viewing a machine online means that you can see a vast range of machines available from each different brand. There are often great deals to be found, making it potentially cheaper to purchase a sewing machine online, in some instances. However, I personally feel that you miss out on physically seeing the machine before you purchase, and asking questions from a knowledgeable source. A happy compromise might be to view a machine locally, then purchase the machine online if you see any great deals.

Personal Requirements – Manual Vs. Computerised

Choosing a manual or a computerused sewing machine will be based on your personal requirements and preferences. Budget will also have a significant part to play in this decision. It might be best to purchase a basic sewing machine that will enable you to get used to the different functions and stitches. Once you feel that you are progressing in your sewing, and you are more aware of exactly what you are looking for in a machine, you can then upgrade.

Some people want to buy the best machine they can afford as their first machine. It can be very motivating when you have a machine with all the bells and whistles, because you want to make sure you make the most of your purchase, by sewing as much as possible. However, do be careful not to purchase a machine that is too complex for your sewing abilities. It might prove to be an unwelcome barrier to your sewing, if you find yourself needing to constantly look at the sewing manual, just to figure out how your machine works! Also, you don’t want a machine that you’re too afraid to use for fear of breaking it.

A sewing machine is an investment, so take your time when deciding on which one to get. Finding the most suitable sewing machine for you may take some time, but it’s worth the careful consideration. Once you’ve found the right one, your sewing journey will go from strength to strength.

This is a non-exhaustive list of factors to consider when buying a sewing machine for the first time. I hope you’ve found this post useful and that it helps you find the right sewing machine to meet your needs.

The Bettine

Pattern: The Bettine – Tilly and the Buttons.

Fabric: 2 metres of ‘Dog Print’ Cotton Sateen (Ivory/Black).

Supplier: The Textile Centre.

It’s official: 2 weeks ago I made my first ever dress – The Bettine!! I could not be more thrilled! It took me 2 solid days (9am – 5pm) of sewing to produce the finished article. It was SO much fun and less complicated than I anticipated. My main aim was to make it through the project without losing the will to sew again. For this reason, I took minimal photos, however I will document my next dressmaking endeavour with much more photos, in order to show the progression from fabric to finished article.

I ensured that I pre-washed and pressed the fabric prior to cutting out the pattern. This meant that I could ascertain how much the fabric might shrink before I made the dress. I used a cotton sateen fabric which was very easy to work with and gave just the right amount of drape for the style of dress. I found the most time consuming aspect of constructing the dress (the pattern cutting) to be the most therapeutic. Carefully placing the pattern pieces onto the fabric in a particular order and cutting out the fabric pieces using my rotary cutter was very relaxing and surprisingly enjoyable.

The one part I did struggle with was the threading of the elastic waist band into the body of the dress. I started from one hole, got all the way around to the other side of the dress (with great difficulty and effort) only for it to not come out of the designated hole! I rectified the issue by creating another discreet hole and doing some repair work, which was really simple and did not ruin the dress. I prefer my dresses to be above the knees, however the design leaves ample material for a much more modest hemline should you prefer it.

Unfortunately, due to my self-imposed Wedding Diet (3 months to go!!), the dress was too big for me (my hands are strategically placed during the photos in order to hide this fact). In hindsight, I should have re-measured myself beforehand but the dress has now gone to a lovely home. It became an Easter present for my mum and it fits her perfectly. She absolutely loves it and I am so happy to see something that I made being worn and enjoyed by one of my favourite people in the world.

My thoughts on the pattern were that it was simple, the instructions were clear and there were some elements of challenge for the new sewist should they wish to give them a try i.e. pockets and shoulder tabs. A word of warning: although the pattern states that it is for beginners, there is an element of expectation that the sewist will be able to understand and execute some of the basic sewing skills. I am extremely grateful to myself for being patient and consolidating my skills by starting off with non-garment related sewing projects. This enabled me to get to grips with the basic sewing skills. Had I simply picked up a beginner pattern with no prior knowledge or practice, I would definitely have struggled and the process would have been tiresome and tedious.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable time was had and I intend to make another ‘Bettine’ in the coming weeks. This time, in my size so that I can have my very own ‘Bettine’ to wear. For now, I want to try my hand at a different type of garment and have decided that my next project will be a simple, sleeveless top. I have shortlisted a few patterns and will decide which best suits my choice of fabric. ‘The Bettine’ was a rip-roaring success and I highly recommend this pattern to all sewists, from novice through to expert.

You Are Not Alone: Advice From One Newbie to Another

I’m very new to the sewing community and to say that I’m a very keen sewist is an understatement. The most frustrating thing for me at present is this: my skills do not match my creativity. Sound familiar? This can make me feel downhearted, particularly as there are so many wonderful projects I would love to attempt. Even the simplest projects get me flustered and take much longer than I anticipate. I am happy to report that I am making progress and in each project I am challenging myself in a variety of ways, whether it’s learning a new skill, or using a more challenging type of fabric. As I come to the end of my third week of sewing, I want to share some of the most significant things that I have learnt on my sewing journey thus far.

1) There’s a lot of getting it wrong before you get it right:

Make friends with your seam ripper. Seriously!! Be prepared to feel frustrated, mildly annoyed, and even to shed tears and want to give up. Not wanting to finish a project for a few days (or even longer) because you’re struggling with hemming/interfacing and you can’t face unpicking ANOTHER seam is completely normal. Having lots of these moments when you first start out is a given. The quicker that you embrace the fact that making mistakes are inevitable, the better that you will get at rectifying them and independently finding solutions to your problems. This helps to improve your sewing skills.

2) A sewing room is the dream. The dining room table is the reality:

My fiance and I live in a 2 bedroom, mezzanine flat. The small living room where our dining table lives is now bursting at the seams with sewing-related items, as well as everything else we’ve managed to fit into it (musical instruments, coffee table, bookcases, sofas etc). The dining table, which often turns into an office desk, or a place to collect regularly used items that never get put away, has most recently turned into a sewing table. It’s where my sewing machine, overlocker, material and various sewing tools live. Navigating the living room is a challenge at the best of times, but its a space that helps with my creativity. When you first start out sewing there’s not always an ideal space. What matters is that you find any space you can in order to get going with your sewing. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to work for you.

NB: Try to keep your sewing space as tidy as possible, especially if it’s not very spacious. After every sewing session, I tidy up all of my off-cuttings, scraps, etc and leave the space presentable for the next time. There’s nothing more depressing/off-putting than returning to a project and there’s mess everywhere.

3) You are NOT alone:

It seems as though everyone else in the sewing community is an experienced dressmaker/sewist and you are the only one struggling to improve. This just isn’t true and even the most experienced dressmaker/sewist will have times when they feel as though they just can’t seem to get it right. There is no project that is perfect the first time around – there are always things that you wish you could have executed much better, additions/alterations you want to make in the future, lessons to be learned, unpicking to be done!

I must admit that I have struggled to find established blogs of sewists that have just started out, but there are a few out there and when I read about their experiences I immediately feel a sense of relief and camaraderie. I then start to have much more positive thoughts about my sewing journey, such as: “That happens to them too!” “So it’s normal to feel this way.” “I’m not the only one who thinks a project will take 2 days and it lasts 2 weeks.”

Starting from scratch is never easy, but it’s important to remember that you are not alone with those feelings. That’s exactly why I started blogging. If one person in a similar position reads just one of my posts and feels encouraged to continue their own sewing journey, despite the trials and pitfalls encountered at first, then all of my efforts have been worth it.

4) Things do get better:

After 3 weeks of sewing I am amazed at how much of the terminology I now understand. I know the basics of a sewing machine, having never owned or used a sewing machine previously. I can make 5 different items reasonably well. I know the basics of using an overlocker. I even created a pattern for a tie because I wanted to make one but did not have a pattern to use. Most importantly, I have the desire to continue pushing myself and  improving my skills – next up, making garments. Definitely not what I expected myself to be thinking of sewing after only 3 weeks. All of these mini victories are proof that things do get better and much easier with time. Just keep at it.

5) There’s an entire community out there:

There is an established sewing community that is welcoming, supportive and extremely helpful. Find ‘sewcial’ events that you can get involved in, or join the online community. There is help and advice available from a variety of sources. Make sure that you use them. I am just starting to get more involved in the sewing community. It’s a bit daunting and I really need to give myself a push but I’m willing to step outside of my comfort zone, in order to improve my skills and make some new friends along the way.

I really hope that this post gives encouragement to another newbie. I intend to read it back to myself whenever I feel discouraged or disheartened by my sewing abilities. I hope that one day I can look back at this post and appreciate how far I have progressed. For now, it’s back to re-starting my latest project – zipper pouches. Now THAT experience is a story and a half. I’ll save that for my next post. Until then, happy sewing!

All Tied Up

With the pillowcases safely put to bed, I commenced my next project – a tie. I followed a tutorial from the same vlog where I found the pillowcase tutorial, ‘MADE Everyday’. The tutorial was easy to follow, however this was a bit of a trickier project from the outset because I did not have a pattern for a tie. I had to ask my fiancé for a tie he no longer liked and then proceeded to cut it apart. It was a win-win situation: I got to use the tie as a makeshift template and he got a much nicer, handmade tie as a replacement.

The ill-fated tie

Using the tie as a template (bearing in mind that I had deconstructed a previously made tie, therefore would need to add point to the fabric, make the shape much neater, allow for seam allowances, etc) I proceeded to cut out the fabric I needed. I then pinned the fabric I had cut to the lining and used it to get an exact copy of the shapes for the front and back of the tie.

One of the hardest parts (aside from the faff of cutting out the shapes for the tie without the use of a pattern, coupled with my shoddy cutting skills) was pinning together the front and back of the tie and sewing them together, in order to make one long, continuous length of fabric. There was a 1/4″ seam allowance and I had to get the edges together perfectly. Needless to say, unpicked my first try!

Pinning the front and back of the tie for the lining and outer fabric

I carefully followed the instructions of the tutorial and was very happy with the finished results. Unfortunately, I made the loop on the tie too small, so it could not be used to hold the back of the tie in place. Lucky for me, my fiancé informed me that he does not bother to use the loops anyway (RESULT). I had also placed the loop too far up the tie, which meant that had it been big enough to use, it would have been impossible to do so. Shortly after taking the photograph, I cut the loop off – problem solved!

Happy with the overall result from the first tie, I made a second tie (it turned into a skinny tie but mainly due to me making a mistake and refusing to unpick the entire length of the tie). Much like during the pillowcase project, my mistakes came thick and fast when I started making the second tie. I tried to complete the project with minimal assistance from the video (will I ever learn?!) and soon my best friend came out once again (the seam unpicker). Sigh….I HAVE learned my lesson since and I will follow tutorials, instructions and guidance relentlessly until they are firmly ingrained in my mind. Only then shall I try to sew from memory. I am blessed with the ability to somehow rectify any mistakes I make, regardless of how catastrophic, and still end up with a project that I can be proud of. I hope that this gift follows me throughout my sewing career. It is one that I am very happy to have.

The second tie turned out great and is a skinny tie to add to my fiancé’s collection. The first tie certainly got his seal of approval, as he proudly wore it to work at the beginning of this week. What a sweetheart! He made me a very happy lady that day. I must say that the other difficulty I had with the tie was turning it right-side out once completed. On the tutorial, the vlogger successfully attaches a safety pin to one end of the tie, turns the fabric on itself and pushes/threads the fabric and safety pin along the entire length of the tie.

I tried that method and failed miserably. I was also concerned about potentially ruining the fabric by using this method, so opted for a long-winded method that was much more time-consuming but worked for me. Horses for courses – I got the job done in the end. I would use this tutorial again to make other ties, which I intend to do very soon as my mum has requested one as a birthday gift for a relative. Another project all tied up. Next on my to do list is a zipper pouch.

Everybody Needs a Pillowcase for a Pillow

Pillowcases were my next project, after finally completing the two aprons – my labour of love. I am planning to give my mum a collection of my sewing achievements as part of her Mothers’ Day present on 26th March. She is so thrilled that I have finally decided to take up sewing and is eager to see some of my projects, so I’m making an extra special effort to complete a few simple projects that I can do to the best of my abilities and make some special gifts for the special lady in my life.

So far, my mum can expect 1 cushion and 1 apron. Now there are 2 pillowcases that have been added to the collection. Making the pillowcases was the first time that I independently found a project to create, that I hadn’t already completed in a sewing class. I looked for a simple and easy to follow tutorial on YouTube and stumbled across the vlog, ‘MADE Everyday’.

Overall, the tutorial was very easy to follow and this vlogger is really upbeat and encouraging, without sounding patronising or condescending. There were times in the video when I had to rewind and go over steps that I was unsure of, however, I was able to create not 1 but 2 pillowcases in the space of an hour. The instructions were clear and the vlogger sews the pillowcases during the video, which was helpful for me to watch her technique and attempt to emulate it. The pillowcases that are created in the video do not have the inside, overlapping fabric that covers the end of the pillow. Following the tutorial to a ‘T’ will leave you with a very basic pillow covering, which is great if that’s the look that you are going for.

I, however, wanted a pillowcase in the true sense. This meant me scrutinising one of my own pillowcases to ascertain exactly how it had been sewn together, then making a few adjustments to my project, in order to create the overlapping fabric to cover the end of the pillow. It was a very simple alteration and the result was very effective. The amount of fabric used leaves more than enough room for slightly larger/bulkier pillows. Less fabric can be used than is recommended in the tutorial, in order to give a snug fit to a standard sized pillow. I liked how the pillows looked with the use of slightly more fabric, so I would keep to the same amount of fabric the next time that I make pillowcases.

Pillowcase

Pillowcase interior

For such a simple project, I made quite a few mistakes, but this is simply down to my status as sewing newbie. I am still perfecting all of the ‘easy’ skills that intermediate and advanced sewists take for granted. Another problem of mine is following instructions to a ‘T.’ My biggest problems came when making the second pillowcase. I thought that I knew all of the steps and could easily recall what should happen next, therefore I tried to make the pillowcase without the aid of the video…..EPIC FAIL!!

My brain was still getting to grips with all of the skills required to make this new project, so adding on the additional chore of memorising each step AND trying to get each step done as perfectly as I could led to many mistakes and the inevitable use of my best friend (the seam unpicker). Note to self – go easy with the seam unpicker, otherwise it leads to rips/tears in the fabric where rips/tears are not welcome.

THANKFULLY, the small tear occurred on the inside of the overlapping fabric that covers the end of the pillow, so I did a quick patch job to ensure that it didn’t turn into a major issue. I let my mum know about my slight error and she was very understanding, reassuring me that it didn’t matter and that she would be happy to accept ANYTHING that I made (oh, a mother’s love). I really enjoyed making these pillowcases and will make more in the future.

Sewing Kit Upgrade

My sewing kit is no longer as basic as it was almost 3 weeks ago. I now have a growing collection of sewing accessories, as you can see:

I acquired a sewing box to house my accessories. My newest addition is an A2 self-healing cutting board and a rotary cutter. My cutting skills leave a lot to be desired (I am slowly improving) however the rotary cutter will enable me to cut fabric in a much more precise manner. This will be particularly important as my projects become more complex and also for when I start to make garments.

The cutting board will protect my dining room table, which also doubles as my sewing station. I’ve always been the kind of person who needs to know the use of an item before it is purchased. I suppose that I could have immediately bought all of these items at the very beginning, however I have preferred to collect them as and when I need them. This has helped me to understand the use of each item in my sewing kit and its importance for different projects that I have completed so far.

I’m starting to feel like a proper sewist…or at least as though I have the right equipment to become one. I regularly use all of the items in my sewing box, a fact that I am really pleased about because it feels as though it is money well spent. With any new interest there will be an initial cost and because I have started from scratch, everything I required at a particular point in time needed to be purchased.

I am relieved that I am now reaching the point where I will not have to make any more essential purchases to my kit. The last remaining items on my list are a French Curve ruler and pattern weights (I’ve got my eye on some particularly cute pattern weights from Oh Sew Quaint). It’s been an expensive few weeks getting started with sewing, but it has been well worth it. Long may the passion continue to grow and the skills flourish.