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Well hi there!

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Recently I've had a couple of people ask me
to review and try out "handheld sewing machines".

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So I didn't actually know that handheld sewing
machines existed until some people told me

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about them.

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They supposedly have a lot of the functions
of just like a... standard, straight-stitch

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sewing machine, but they're a lot smaller,
compact and a lot cheaper.

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So I found one on Ebay which was $16, I did
also find a $2 handheld sewing machine, but

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I was kinda...

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I was like, that's not gunna, that's can't
be - that's not going to work, right?

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So, if this works, I think it would be really
cool because it will make sewing more accessible

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to a lot more people, I've had a lot of you
message me saying that, you know, getting

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a sewing machine for one project, or if they're
not sure about sewing as a hobby, it's kinda

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a big investment!

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On the other hand, if it doesn't work, I can
save you guys the time and money in buying

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one of these for yourself.

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SO my handheld sewing machine arrived today,
I am going to open it up on camera and give

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you my first impressions!

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Okay, apparently, I didn't know this when
I was buying it but I've ended up with the

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"Handy Stitch": As Seen On TV.

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Which makes me a little bit worried because
those as..

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As Seen on TV things generally don't work.

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Oh, cool.

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They even have typos on the box.

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Cool.

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I have such high hopes for this already.

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Well, it comes with a couple of pre-loaded
boddins - boddins?!

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Bobbins!

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A needle-threader... oh good, we have instructions.

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And here's the machine!

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Da da da daaa! (Fanfare Noise)

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Um okay, it kinda looks like a stapler -

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Okay, so batteries are in, and this here is
the power switch.

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[Loud noise from machine]
Whoa.

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Ooh.

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It did something!

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I'm surprised it did something!

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'Kay, so it sews sideways, instead of back
and forth...

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Whoa.

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It seems to work!

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Maybe!

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So I'm going to try and do a simple project
with this, um, we'll see how we go!

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Okay, so here's a question: why is there grease
on everything?

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Ewww.

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There's like, big globs of grease.

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So on this machine, here is the needle, um
this is like the plate that the fabric goes

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under, and there's the feed-dogs under there,
that pull the fabric through.

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This controls the tension, this is the bobbin
for the thread... there only seems to be one

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place where thread goes through.

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I think.

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This is like a little wheel that raises the
needle up and down manually.

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And this is the power switch.

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So, you hold it... from here and... ooop!
[loud noise from machine] Whoa! [laughs] And

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it goes! [loud noise from machine]

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Let's just figure out which way you go first.

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Okay.

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It sews this way.

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Okay, okay, ummm... the stitches came straight
out.

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Sooo... that's cool.

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Not sure how we make that NOT happen.

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[Quietly]: Oh my god, what?

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Okay, I think I've got it mostly figured out.

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So I'm going to try and make a bow out of
this.

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Wish me luck!

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I wonder if this sews 'round corners.

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That would be a good thing.

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If it doesn't sew around corners - pffflt.

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I give up on this.

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I'm so scared!

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Alright.

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...

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We got this.

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We can do it.

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Wait, I'm supposed to pull the thread to the
front... okay

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Take 2.

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Oh no, it's skipping some stitches!

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[Machine makes loud noise that isn't sewing
noise]

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Gasp!

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Come on, turn, please!

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So I'm trying to turn the fabric, and it's
really getting bunched up and caught inside

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the machine...

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It's not looking so good for you here -

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[Machine makes loud noise]
Ah!

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Oh!

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[laughs] Why am I so scared of this?!

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[Machine makes a small noise]
Stop!

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Okay.

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I managed to turn it, kinda - I should probably
be using pins to hold the fabric together.

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This is my bad.

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Oooh.

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All of the fabric is bunching up.

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Kay, now I'm going to try and do that "backstitching".

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Needle, up.

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Pull out 3 inches of thread.

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Down, up...

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Pull fabric out...

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Oooh...

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Oh no, I'm pulling the stitches out!

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No no no no no!

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No no no no!

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Argh!

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Where's - argh!

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All the stitches came out!

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Uhhhh!

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[Voiceover] Okay, so I gave this a real, honest try, and
I could just not get it to work.

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After about an hour of trying to get just
one single line of stitches sewn, I gave up.

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The main problem that I was having was that
I couldn’t figure out how to secure the

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stitches at the end of my line of stitches
- this is pretty important because that literally

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stops the thread from falling out right out
after you’ve sewn it in.

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The instructions were not much help either
– they were totally confusing, and even

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though I followed them to a tee, which involved
all this complicated tying of knots with your

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hands, it still didn’t work out.

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In addition, there was no apparent method
to holding the stitches into the fabric at

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the beginning of the stitch, either.

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Seriously how hard would it have been to put
in a backstitch function?

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This would save so much time and energy if
the machine had a simple backstitch to secure

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the stitches in place.

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And regardless of me not being able to secure
the stitches at the beginning and the end

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– it also skipped a significant number of
stitches while I was sewing.

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Now, it’s possible that I needed to fine-tune
the tension, but there weren’t really any

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instructions as to what the best tension even
looked like, and each tension that I used

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still ended up giving me skipped stitches.

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And so, this was the bow that I ended up with.

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Here's my bow.

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I've been working on this for about an hour
at this point.

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None of these stitches have held up.

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They've all come unravelled under a small
amount of tension.

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The only place that the stitches have actually
held was the place that I hand-tied the stitches

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in.

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The rest of them have completely fallen out.

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Cool - so, my final remarks on my first impression
of using a handheld sewing machine...

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I hate it.

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I wasted about an hour of my life trying to
sew a simple couple of lines of stitches,

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and it didn't work.

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Now, it's possible that with enough time and
effort you could get good at using this, but

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the amount of time that you have to invest
into learning to use this is just SO much

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more than it is for a standard beginner's
sewing machine.

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Like, an hour into it and I wasn't even able
to figure out how to do a secure straight

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line of stitches.

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So it's definitely not easier to use than
a standard sewing machine, definitely don't

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buy it if you're looking for an easy version
of sewing.

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Fun, Fast and Easy?

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M-more like, not fun, slow and… hard!

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YEAH.

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Take that Marybeth.

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Take that.

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So yeah, those are my initial thoughts on
the handheld sewing machine.

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I will give it another go, um if you guys
leave some helpful suggestions, maybe – ‘coz

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I think I'm doing something wrong!

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Let me know if you've ever used a handheld
sewing machine before and what brand you used,

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and if it worked for you - I'd really like
to know whether these are worth it at all,

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but from my first impressions - it is not.

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Thank you so much for watching this video
- OH!

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Did you see the jacket I was wearing in my
intro?

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Oh, you didn't?

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Did you see those patches and you were just
like, I'm so envious of Annika's cool patches,

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well GUESS WHAT!

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You can buy them at my merchandise store!

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The patches were designed by me and then made
by a WRAP certified factory in China, which

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means they were produced ethically, coz that
is super important to me.

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There's even a Make Thrift Buy one!

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And all proceeds will go towards helping out
my channel, so you can yourself something

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cute, that shows off your love of sewing,
or Make Thrift Buy, and support my channel

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at the same time!

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Alright, I'm going now.

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Thank you for watching!

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Bye!