Well hi there!
Recently I've had a couple of people ask me to review and try out "handheld sewing machines".
So I didn't actually know that handheld sewing machines existed until some people told me
about them.
They supposedly have a lot of the functions of just like a... standard, straight-stitch
sewing machine, but they're a lot smaller, compact and a lot cheaper.
So I found one on Ebay which was $16, I did also find a $2 handheld sewing machine, but
I was kinda...
I was like, that's not gunna, that's can't be - that's not going to work, right?
So, if this works, I think it would be really cool because it will make sewing more accessible
to a lot more people, I've had a lot of you message me saying that, you know, getting
a sewing machine for one project, or if they're not sure about sewing as a hobby, it's kinda
a big investment!
On the other hand, if it doesn't work, I can save you guys the time and money in buying
one of these for yourself.
SO my handheld sewing machine arrived today, I am going to open it up on camera and give
you my first impressions!
Okay, apparently, I didn't know this when I was buying it but I've ended up with the
"Handy Stitch": As Seen On TV.
Which makes me a little bit worried because those as..
As Seen on TV things generally don't work.
Oh, cool.
They even have typos on the box.
Cool.
I have such high hopes for this already.
Well, it comes with a couple of pre-loaded boddins - boddins?!
Bobbins!
A needle-threader... oh good, we have instructions.
And here's the machine!
Da da da daaa! (Fanfare Noise)
Um okay, it kinda looks like a stapler -
Okay, so batteries are in, and this here is the power switch.
[Loud noise from machine] Whoa.
Ooh.
It did something!
I'm surprised it did something!
'Kay, so it sews sideways, instead of back and forth...
Whoa.
It seems to work!
Maybe!
So I'm going to try and do a simple project with this, um, we'll see how we go!
Okay, so here's a question: why is there grease on everything?
Ewww.
There's like, big globs of grease.
So on this machine, here is the needle, um this is like the plate that the fabric goes
under, and there's the feed-dogs under there, that pull the fabric through.
This controls the tension, this is the bobbin for the thread... there only seems to be one
place where thread goes through.
I think.
This is like a little wheel that raises the needle up and down manually.
And this is the power switch.
So, you hold it... from here and... ooop! [loud noise from machine] Whoa! [laughs] And
it goes! [loud noise from machine]
Let's just figure out which way you go first.
Okay.
It sews this way.
Okay, okay, ummm... the stitches came straight out.
Sooo... that's cool.
Not sure how we make that NOT happen.
[Quietly]: Oh my god, what?
Okay, I think I've got it mostly figured out.
So I'm going to try and make a bow out of this.
Wish me luck!
I wonder if this sews 'round corners.
That would be a good thing.
If it doesn't sew around corners - pffflt.
I give up on this.
I'm so scared!
Alright.
...
We got this.
We can do it.
Wait, I'm supposed to pull the thread to the front... okay
Take 2.
Oh no, it's skipping some stitches!
[Machine makes loud noise that isn't sewing noise]
Gasp!
Come on, turn, please!
So I'm trying to turn the fabric, and it's really getting bunched up and caught inside
the machine...
It's not looking so good for you here -
[Machine makes loud noise] Ah!
Oh!
[laughs] Why am I so scared of this?!
[Machine makes a small noise] Stop!
Okay.
I managed to turn it, kinda - I should probably be using pins to hold the fabric together.
This is my bad.
Oooh.
All of the fabric is bunching up.
Kay, now I'm going to try and do that "backstitching".
Needle, up.
Pull out 3 inches of thread.
Down, up...
Pull fabric out...
Oooh...
Oh no, I'm pulling the stitches out!
No no no no no!
No no no no!
Argh!
Where's - argh!
All the stitches came out!
Uhhhh!
[Voiceover] Okay, so I gave this a real, honest try, and I could just not get it to work.
After about an hour of trying to get just one single line of stitches sewn, I gave up.
The main problem that I was having was that I couldn’t figure out how to secure the
stitches at the end of my line of stitches - this is pretty important because that literally
stops the thread from falling out right out after you’ve sewn it in.
The instructions were not much help either – they were totally confusing, and even
though I followed them to a tee, which involved all this complicated tying of knots with your
hands, it still didn’t work out.
In addition, there was no apparent method to holding the stitches into the fabric at
the beginning of the stitch, either.
Seriously how hard would it have been to put in a backstitch function?
This would save so much time and energy if the machine had a simple backstitch to secure
the stitches in place.
And regardless of me not being able to secure the stitches at the beginning and the end
– it also skipped a significant number of stitches while I was sewing.
Now, it’s possible that I needed to fine-tune the tension, but there weren’t really any
instructions as to what the best tension even looked like, and each tension that I used
still ended up giving me skipped stitches.
And so, this was the bow that I ended up with.
Here's my bow.
I've been working on this for about an hour at this point.
None of these stitches have held up.
They've all come unravelled under a small amount of tension.
The only place that the stitches have actually held was the place that I hand-tied the stitches
in.
The rest of them have completely fallen out.
Cool - so, my final remarks on my first impression of using a handheld sewing machine...
I hate it.
I wasted about an hour of my life trying to sew a simple couple of lines of stitches,
and it didn't work.
Now, it's possible that with enough time and effort you could get good at using this, but
the amount of time that you have to invest into learning to use this is just SO much
more than it is for a standard beginner's sewing machine.
Like, an hour into it and I wasn't even able to figure out how to do a secure straight
line of stitches.
So it's definitely not easier to use than a standard sewing machine, definitely don't
buy it if you're looking for an easy version of sewing.
Fun, Fast and Easy?
M-more like, not fun, slow and… hard!
YEAH.
Take that Marybeth.
Take that.
So yeah, those are my initial thoughts on the handheld sewing machine.
I will give it another go, um if you guys leave some helpful suggestions, maybe – ‘coz
I think I'm doing something wrong!
Let me know if you've ever used a handheld sewing machine before and what brand you used,
and if it worked for you - I'd really like to know whether these are worth it at all,
but from my first impressions - it is not.
Thank you so much for watching this video - OH!
Did you see the jacket I was wearing in my intro?
Oh, you didn't?
Did you see those patches and you were just like, I'm so envious of Annika's cool patches,
well GUESS WHAT!
You can buy them at my merchandise store!
The patches were designed by me and then made by a WRAP certified factory in China, which
means they were produced ethically, coz that is super important to me.
There's even a Make Thrift Buy one!
And all proceeds will go towards helping out my channel, so you can yourself something
cute, that shows off your love of sewing, or Make Thrift Buy, and support my channel
at the same time!
Alright, I'm going now.
Thank you for watching!
Bye!