You may have noticed in my last post that I mentioned my newest sewing machine, a Bernina 735 Pro. I ordered the machine back in the summer, after they were announced, and I received it just before Thanksgiving. This last week is the first time I’ve really been able to use it extensively.

If you’re wondering, it’s a great sewing machine, and it does a beautiful quarter inch seam. Being a 5.5 mm feed dog machine, there is more control than I’ve had in quite a while, and it’s evident that this machine will be wonderful for piecing quilts, sewing garments and anything else I want to make. It is, in a word, wonderful.

But … did I really need this machine? I think the answer to that is an unequivocal no. No, I did not need this machine. My Bernina 770QE Kaffe is a very nice machine and it makes a nice quarter inch seam (though admittedly not as good as the 735 Pro), and between it and my Brother Stellaire, I really didn’t need another machine.

But here we are. I do have the newest machine, and I do enjoy using it, though it doesn’t bring me the pleasure I thought it would. I realized today that while I like the machine, it was, in fact, an impulse purchase. Even though I had known about it for three weeks before I bought it, and even though I really like the features it offers, I don’t get a rush of pleasure when I sit down to use it.

Frankly, I have too many machines in my studio. I have the Brother Stellaire XJ1 upgraded to the XJ2. I have the Bernina 735 Pro, as well as the 770 QE Kaffe edition, and the Bernina L890 serger/cover stitch machine. And while I really like sewing on all of them, I don’t actually need them all.

It sucks that I had to get to this point to realize that I never should have ordered the 735 Pro, but as I approached retirement, I was worried I wouldn’t have another chance to buy a new machine. That was stupid, because I had the cash to buy it, and I should have just held on to it and waited. The impulse to purchase the machine probably would have passed in time, and I’d be $5,200 richer. I’d also still have my Bernina 570 QEE that I could have sold outright or held on to for a class machine.

Is this buyer’s remorse, or is it something else? I really don’t know, but I’m finding myself becoming a bit tighter with money now that I’m retired. I’m less interested in eating out, I don’t find much when I go to the quilt shop that I want to buy and take home with me, and I even passed up making a purchase on emblibrary.com the other night, despite a very good sale on the designs I wanted.

Sewing machines aren’t refundable, however, so I will just continue to use it and try to enjoy it as much as I can. But it is stupid to have this many expensive sewing machines in my studio, and I’ve learned quite a lesson with this last purchase.

Have you ever made a major purchase that you then regretted? What did you do about it? I’d really like to hear some ideas on how to feel better about this purchase going forward.