Sewing Machine World

24/09/2026

NOTICE
Pat testing for Samphire Quilters has been moved to next Thursday and Friday the 1st and 2nd October due to staff shortage. We are sorry for any inconvenience.

22/09/2026

Popping up in Haverhill this Saturday! 🧵

Steve and Harvey will be at Snobby Eddy Crafts Centre from 10am to 3pm with a great range of new and used sewing machines and overlockers to try, all at brilliant prices.

Come and say hello, have a go on a few machines, and see what takes your fancy.

📍 Snobby Eddy Crafts Centre, 20 Rookwood Way, Haverhill CB9 8PB
🕙 Saturday 26th September, 10am–3pm

17/09/2026

Arfa came to see us today with his humans and left with a new Brother machine. We always welcome well behaved dogs in the showroom. 🦴

16/09/2026

Singer Heavy Duty Overlocker, serviced and checked, original packaging, printed manual. £225.00

15/09/2026

09/09/2026

And with that, the Bernina trip is coming to a close.

We walked the factory floor, explored decades of sewing machine history in their own museum, and got hands on with the new B790 Ultra and the new L6 overlocker range. It was brilliant meeting the people behind the machines we sell every day, swapping ideas with other dealers, and picking up plenty of inspiration to bring home to the shop.

Huge thanks to the whole Bernina team for having us. Watch this space for what we learned!

07/09/2026

Day one at Bernina HQ in Switzerland for Steve and Harvey!

07/09/2026

Before you start your first project of the season, give your machine five minutes. Clean it out, fit a fresh needle, rethread it from scratch, check your thread is not past its best, and sew a test scrap. Nine times out of ten, when a machine arrives with us doing something mysterious, it is one of those five.

If you work through all five and it still is not behaving, bring it in. No booking needed for servicing, just turn up and we will confirm the price and turnaround with you.

What is first on your list this season? Tell us below.

06/09/2026

Machine of the Month: the Bernina 475 Quilters Edition

Rita has picked this one for September, and her reasoning was straightforward: it is a great machine for classes. Solid enough to take proper use, light enough to carry to a workshop, and simple enough that you are sewing within minutes rather than reading a manual.

It comes with the extension table for larger projects, a clear touchscreen for stitch selection, and that unmistakable Bernina feel through the handwheel and the foot pedal. If you have been eyeing up a Bernina for a while, this is a lovely place to start.

And right now it comes with a free Bernina trolley bag worth £250. If you take your machine anywhere, to a class, a retreat or a friend's kitchen table, you will use it constantly.

Come and sew on it before you decide. Every new machine also comes with a free one to one lesson with us, so you leave knowing your way around it.

Monday to Saturday, 9:30am to 4:30pm. 01553 773362

03/09/2026

Buttonholes are the bit everyone dreads. They shouldn't be.

Here's one on the Juki DX3. The button drops into the clamp on the back of the foot, and that is genuinely the whole setup. The machine measures the button, works out the size, and sews the buttonhole to match. Same size, every time, however many you need down a shirt front.

The other thing this style of foot does quietly well: it clamps the fabric. Rather than leaving the feed dogs to do all the work, the foot grips and carries the fabric through. That is what saves you on the tricky bits. Cuff and waistband seams where the layers suddenly double, coat weight wool, slippery linings, stretchy jersey. Anywhere fabric would normally shift or stall halfway along and leave you with one buttonhole slightly longer than its neighbour.

No marking out. No counting stitches. No four step dial to turn at exactly the right moment while holding your breath.

If buttonholes have been putting you off a project, come and have a go on one in the shop. Bring the buttons and a scrap of your actual fabric and we will run a few through with you.

01553 773362 | Monday to Saturday, 9:30am to 4:30pm