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Congratulations on deciding to buy a new sewing machine, it is a decision that should give you many hours of sewing pleasure and should be a decision you are comfortable and happy that you have made. Unfortunately quite often the shopping experience is not one that people have enjoyed, they sometimes feel that they have been pressured by sales people in to making decisions before they are ready to do so, they feel they have been persuaded into spending more than they planned to, they end up with a sewing machine that is not suitable for their requirements. If any of this sounds familiar then please read on as we aim to help you with some easy to follow tips that will put you back in charge of the buying process.

Knowing what you want, if you do not need a sewing machine that has 50 different features then do not buy one with all the bells and whistles. Quite often when you go in to a shop the sales person will be keen to sell you a particular machine, this might be the most expensive one they have or just the one with the best commission for the store, if you do not want that model or brand tell them. Before you go to the store I would create a list of the features I need my sewing machine to have, armed with this list I am able to tell the sales person what I want and I can check what he is showing me with my list of requirements and if they do not match then tell him he is not showing you what you want to buy.

Knowing what you do not want, this might sound a little strange, but if you are not happy with something on your current sewing machine, if the same thing keeps going wrong for example or if one part breaks more often than you feel it should, then tell the sales person this, you obviously do not want to have the same problems with your new machine that you had with your old one.

Test drive the sewing machine, when you have found a sewing machine that you are interested in ask the sales rep for a demonstration, please ask questions if you do not understand something they do or say as often the sales reps have a set demo and patter to go with it and this can seem a lot sleeker than it really is. You must also ask to test the sewing machine for yourself, take a swatch of your own fabric with you as an old trick amongst sales reps is to use stiff material that is much easier for some aspects of sewing and will therefore give you a false sense of confidence. Using your own swatches also means that you can carry it from machine to machine as well as shop to shop and get a true comparison between the different sewing machines on offer.

Please look out for part two of this series as we continue to put you in the driving seat when you go to purchase your new sewing machine.