Read's Sailmaker Sewing Machine

[Deleted member 478]

Just curious, what are they worth?

Yep, I did an eBay search - nada, nothing, zilch, rien, f-all

 

[Deleted member 478]

After much digging around, I eventually found a few recently sold machines. I've now listed mine on Facebook Marketplace and yep, within nanoseconds I had three bots offer me that courier deal + €20 extra (just for me). F*off was my reply.

 

[dgadee]

I have a Bernina 807 with a walking foot attachment. Does all I have asked of it. You can see how many layers of whatever it works with on YouTube.

 

[Poignard]

I have a Bernina 807 with a walking foot attachment. Does all I have asked of it. You can see how many layers of whatever it works with on YouTube.

Will it cope with size V92 thread?

 

[dgadee]

Will it cope with size V92 thread?

Yes. I have used that.

 

[dgadee]

A bit more info. About 20 years ago I was given the Bernina for free from a school which was clearing out in the drive to take the practical out of education. I used it now and then but decided to make a cockpit cover last winter and also decided to get it serviced before I used it (a large sewing machine shop is just along the road). That was more expensive than I expected - £200 - so if you are picking one up don't pay too much unless it has been serviced properly.

The cockpit cover was a good size so needed a bit of manipulation since the machine is only 7" space on the table, but it was doable (I think the Sailrite is a similar size). At that point I hadn't purchased the walking head and there was a tendency for the stitches not to be completely regular. I recently bought the walking head and it has transformed how thick materials are handled. There are a lot of cheap ones around but I thought it better to go for the Bernina one - £100 - and now see that these do come up every now and again on eBay.

The machine is light but pretty solid with metal gears. The two slight negatives are the maximum stitch length is only 4mm (not so obvious when using zigzag) and the body isn't steel so you can't use a magnetic guide.

What got it out of the cupboard was the cost of getting things made. I also made new cushion covers last winter after someone local gave me a price of £1800 and the cockpit cover had turned out ok.

 

[dgadee]

Sorry, not 7". 9".

 

[Mister E]

Sorry, not 7". 9".

Did your wife inform you of your mistake

 

[dgadee]

Sorry again! It is 7". Woke in middle of night and thought, "that can't be right". Should have waited till morning and got my wife to measure.