HE AINT HEAVY (Brother Sewing Machine PS33)

Member Name: thingywhatsit

Product:	Brother Sewing Machine PS33
Date:	08/02/06 (1801 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lightweight but heavy duty

Disadvantages: Not really any so far.

HE AINT HEAVY

When my faithful Frister Rossman died with a little pursuasive help from wellmeaning friends, I decided to take a look at what was available on the market. When buying a sewing machine, I would advise consumers to take a look at what they want the machine to do, rather than what a machine offers in the way of gadgetry, because as I found with the Frister Rossman, 30 per cent of the features I was paying extra money for were of no use to me. Set this again price, and it really is important that your choice is machines suits your needs, rather than paying out excessively for features that you will never use.

The Brother Machine has been very well thought out. Instead of the usual fold down handle for example, they saw that it was possible to actually make a slot that fit the hand within the main body of the machine. Innovative but simple, this means that there are actually less parts to get damaged. What I liked about the Brother was the simplicity of the design, the easy of adjustment, and the lightweight nature of the machine, weighing in at 7.5 kilos, making it easily transportable and small enough to tuck away in its lightweight cover, not taking up the space that my old one did.

Stitches available.

There are 27 stitches available, ranging from straight stitch to buttonhole stitch, zig zag, and reverse stitching and for me, it was essential that I had the reverse stitching facility, because I am not always wise enough to tie off the ends of my work, and reverse stitching ensures that the stitches stay in place. Moving from one stitch to another is easy and the panel on the front of the machine shows illustrations of the stitch to be achieved. Simple, effective movement of the slide makes changing from one stitch to another so easy that even I can handle it, and what I liked about the machine is that it actually encouraged me to try new things.

Needles for double stitching are available, and what this produces is a superb two parallel lines of stitching for finishing. For example, when mending jeans, or denham shirts, the double stitching achieves a factory style finish that doesn't look crooked and I am proud of the achievement of working on such thick fabrics, and producing such a superb finish. This double needle can be used for decorative work, although I have not used it for this, simply inserted a different colour in each needle.

Tensions and width of stitch.

Here, as opposed to any Singer I have used and indeed the Frister Rossman, Brother have designed the tension adjustment in a very simple way and it is very easy to jump from one tension to another, dependent upon the thickness of thread or material. The Frister Rossman was not as easy, and the tension dial was my downfall with that machine. After using many materials of differing thickness, I can easily adjust the tension back to the thickness required, and here Brother have got it right.

Bobbins.

Filling a bobbin is simple. There is a one click bobbin button that actually stops gripping the bobbin when it is full, not allowing the bobbin to become too full of thread to be effective. Placing the bobbin in its compartment is easy. One thing that bothers me with the bobbin compartment is the flimsy nature of the cover, and I have to say that here I am very careful not to break or distort the cover, and am perpetually aware of its weakness.

Threading

Here, I was disappointed at first, although it's a learning process and now I have become accustomed to the machine, is simple. Compared to the Frister Rossman where a thread was simply pulled through a slot, the thread is taken down through one slot and up through the other, and the threading process has become second nature to me, and is not hard to learn.

Built in Light.

I found the light a little strange to start off with as it seems to be set further back than I am accustomed to, although again, was easy to get used to.

Needle adjustment

Now here, Brother got clever and it paid off. Sometimes when I worked with thick materials with other machines, I found that their very thickness distorted the foot of the machine and was faced with the problem of the needle hitting the foot and breaking. Brother have devised a system whereby there is adjustment to counteract this, and it is effective and when working with thicker materials, I usually set the needle with the thick fabric in place, so that I know the position is correct for the work I am doing.

Buttonholes.

I didn't use the buttonholer on the Frister Rossman because they made it too complex. On the Brother, they took the process one step further and produced a buttonholer that can even be used by me. It is a very good feature, and encouraged me to use it, and what it produces are professional looking buttonholes that enhance the garments I make. Even on very thin knitted material, the buttonholer does not let me down.

Heavy work

In the old days, other machines would fail me when working with toy making fabrics, denhams and upholstery fabrics. They simply could not cope with the strain. The Brother glides over the fabric with ease, and as it is electronic, actually does not produce heat which can damage the machine.

Pedal control.

I remember the first time that I ever used an electric sewing machine, and that awful feeling of not being in control. I do a lot of delicate patchwork where control of the speed is vital. The Frister Rossman was harder to control than the Brother machine, which seems to have gotten the balance perfect, letting me slow down almost to a halt, or speed up, as and when I want to.

Guarantee

I thought that at the price the guarantee would be limited to one year, though was chuffed to bits to find that Brother are so confident in their product that they offered a two year guarantee. I have seen various sites where only one year is offered on the same machine, so seek out those bargains. They are there to be had.

Awkward areas.
I like this machine a lot, and one of the benefits that I found was that if you remove the tool area of the machine from the front, what you achieve is a sewing area that is useful for sleeves and the legs of trousers making mending very simple with awkwardly small confined areas of sewing.

Cleaning

Cleaning the machine is simplicity itself and I have found that the best way to ensure smooth running of the machine is to clean after each use. There is a small brush provided and unlike other machines that I have owned or used, I have not found the necessity for oiling the machine. What I do find is that opening the bobbin compartment after I have finished each time and brushing out the little fluffy remains of fabric is the only way to ensure smooth running of the machine and is essential. The plastic areas on the outside of the machine can be wiped with a very slightly damp cloth.

Safety.

As with most modern machines, the light being on tells you that there is power going to the machine, and if there are small children around, then this is helpful, because you can ensure that you have unplugged the machine, rather than just leaving it plugged in as a possible danger area for small hands.

Conclusions.

I have used many sewing machines over the years. Compared with my trusted Frister Rossman, I know that sense tells me that paying out three times the amount I did with this machine for a fancy machine that did stitches I never used was silly. The overlocking on the Frister Rossman was difficult, and let's face it, wasn't worthy of the extra couple of hundred pounds I paid. With the brother, you get a simple effective machine that has a good instruction leaflet, and simplicity of use, ease of changing functions, and ease of changing feet. I love the control the machine gives me. It is sturdy and used carefully and diligently will last me every bit as long as my expensive machine did, but where it will not fail is wrapped in its simplistic nature. It was the complication of adjustment in the expensive machine that made it fail, whereas the Brother doesn't purport to be anything other than what it is, a simple to use sewing machine.

Would I recommend it ? Yes, indeed I would. At 149 Euros, (a third of the original Frister Rossman machine and just under 100 Pounds), it gives me all that I need from a Machine and that's really what it's all about.

I go forward into a New Year with a Brother I trust.

Rachel

Summary: Super machine.