There’s been something that’s been weighing heavily on my mind over the last several months, and it pains me a bit to write about it. I don’t like to say anything bad about anyone in the sewing community, and that includes dealers and shop owners where sewing machines, supplies, and other quilting and sewing paraphernalia can be purchased. But sometimes, you have to say what’s on your mind, and let the chips fall where they may.

I have bought several sewing machines from a local dealer, and I recently realized that I truly dislike going in to that shop. As much as I love my Viking Sapphire 935, I really wish I’d never bought it, because the reality is, the idea of going to buy accessories for it fills me with dread. There isn’t another dealer for Viking within 50 miles in one direction, and 115 miles in another direction. I do not like their sewing machine technicians (last time I had my Pfaff serviced, they brought it out to me with it missing the handwheel), I am not crazy about their sales people, and in general I just feel … uncomfortable in their store. They do have several locations inside of Joann’s, but the people in those locations are very high pressure sales. I stopped at one once to pick up some bobbins, and they tried to sell me a $6,000 machine because “it’s the last one we have and the updated version will arrive shortly and it’s $10,000!”

Ugh.

This led me to do some soul searching, because this dealer sells several brands of sewing machines, and there are not a lot of dealers in my area. I want a dealer that is close enough for me to take classes, someone that I feel comfortable going to with questions, no matter how silly they may sound, and someone who seems to value my business. I also want someone who services machines they sell onsite, and with knowledgeable sales folks.

To be honest, I have a problem with two of the three dealers that are within the driving distance I set for another machine purchase. Really, I wasn’t thinking about buying a new machine at this point, but I wanted to have some of the legwork done before I do decide to buy again. After evaluating my choices (and having purchased machines from two of the three dealers in my area), I was left with my local quilt shop that sells Bernina and Babylock. I have a Brother DreamCreator VM5100, and I do like the machine, but I don’t exactly love it, so that left Babylock out, in my opinion. Babylock’s mid and high end machines are manufactured by Brother, and I just do not want another Brother. So … Bernina it is. The problem is, I’ve never done more than a cursory test of Bernina machines at a dealer’s shop. I’ve always considered them to be somewhat overpriced for the feature set, and the interface seemed a little off-putting. I decided that before I took the plunge and spent a large amount of money on a Bernina, I would buy a used machine and see how I like the sewing capabilities.

I have been cruising Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for a month or so, looking at the few Berninas that would pop up for sale, and figured that I could get an older mechanical machine, or maybe one of the older electronic machines, but I didn’t want to spend more than about $500 on one of them. I mean, I don’t know what Bernina keeps on hand for those older machines, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on an obsolete machine, then have it break on me. I went to my LQS and looked at the Berninas, but I didn’t try any of them out. I did pick their brains about the machines, though, so I would know what to look for in a used machine.

Last Friday, I was taking a quick stroll through Facebook Marketplace, and I found a Bernina 435 listed for sale for $1400. It has a very low stitch count, and I think the lady who owned it purchased it last year during lockdown. I think she said that she made masks with it, primarily. I jokingly asked Chris if I could have it, and much to my surprise, he said yes.

I didn’t even know at that point if the machine was still available, so I reached out to the seller to ask, and to my surprise, it was still available, but she suggested that if I was serious about it, I should be there that day to look at it, because she had others coming to look on Saturday if she still had it. We made tracks.

Well, to make this long story a little shorter, meet Bernie.

Chris told me on the way home that he’d been sitting there, wondering what to get me for Mother’s Day when I asked about the machine. I don’t really need his permission, but we always run big purchases by each other. Anyway, he thought it was his Get out of Jail card – it just cost him $1400. lol

I will give a full review at a later date, but let me just say … I now understand what all the fuss is about when it comes to Bernina sewing machines. I totally get it, and all I can say is, why haven’t I done this before now?

I am super excited about this machine, so you can bet I will be putting it through the paces, and I will keep you updated on how things go.