Do You Need A Coverstitch | SewingInTheBarn.com

Home

Blog

Downloads

Education

F A Q

How To

Join our Slack Sewing and Serging Support Channel

Sitemap

Sewing In The Barn | Blog

Sewing In The Barn is an Educational site for your easy

Sewing and Serging reference, we do not sell any products.

Do you need a Coverstitch machine?

Recent Posts

Choosing a

sewing machine

Crazy Quilt Scrapbusting

Do you need a coverstitch?

Fabric Hoarding

Production Serging and Sewing : Protect Yourself

Selling On Etsy

Blogs We Like

Scott Fortunoff

This past weekend, I got back into the swing of giving sewing machines away for my Scott’s Free Sewing Machine charity program. I forgot how good it made me feel to help others. On the other hand, it made me so sad as I was reminded that the struggles are very very real for some people. Tragedy and hardship is everywhere. For some, this is a very sad world that leaves people with many unanswered questions.

Question:

Brother Coverstitch image Anyone who sews clothing for profit, do you have a cover stitch machine? Is it worth it? Considering sewing my own line of kids clothes and want to know if a cover stitch machine is worth it, I’ve already got a serger and a sewing machine.

Comments:

It is not a very versatile choice for equipment return on investment (ROI).

Ask yourself, how many hems - a single procedure on that machine, will you have to sell over the life of the machine to make it pay for itself?

Alternatively, you can do a mock coverstitch type hem with a twin needle on most any modern sewing machine - this alternative has many YouTube how to videos.

If you are serious about running a business and using the equipment for that, you should have a complete return on investment in less time than the 3 years you can amortize the equipment cost/purchase on your taxes. You would have to do a massive number of garments on that machine to pay yourself back in sales to equal the cost of the machine. When choosing business equipment expenditures these are the basic considerations you should look at. It won't save you time, takes a lot of attention to setup correctly and develop skill at using it proficiently. If this is too hard to understand, try thinking about it like "how many thousand garments will I have to sell to pay myself back for the cost of the machine and the maintenance it requires over the first 3 years of ownership?" Remember it is not just the coverstitched hem of each garment you sell that goes into the amortization formula: time, materials, and maintenance have to be included.

Just have fun and MakeItSew!

Fabric and Quilting Hoarders

Folks who deny they have hoarded more than they could have any reasonable expectation of being able to use in their lifetime are full of excuses, "sewing for charity" "delight in chaos" and other handy denials of fact, but they Neglect to think seriously honestly about what it is like to Cleanup after a person who hoarded once they die.

Fabric hoard image Quilting groups are full of deniers who think it is humorous, cute, and funny to encourage more of the same.

In a local fabric recycling nonprofit Fabmo.org they get truckloads, literally weekly, delivered by grieving relatives cleaning up after the fabric-hoarding person passes away. But a very high percentage of people have no access to a place like that, so they try at first to sell it, donate it to a local quilt guild or throw it away by the dumpster.

It is the "Quilting Community'' elephant in the room that no one speaks honestly about or when they do, they're told to shut up. Imagining you may "will it" to your daughter or relative or guild is also a common daydream that generally does not go as you intended.

If you wish to change how you manage your fabric - join our Quilters Cleanup group on Facebook for tips and ideas how to best use the space you have reserved for fabric and sewing, and ideas on how to use up what you have while you are still here to enjoy it. This group is just focused on this one topic, not a chat group, no selling - just practical tips on how to use up the fabric you have and how to practially utilize the space you have for using it. Download the QuiltersCleanup Fabric Destash list from our downloads page for places to sell your excess fabric and quilting supplies.

Good Reads this month:

Morse Sewing Machine History: An Interesting Story!

Needlebar

Needlebar is a fairly comprehensive site on Vintage sewing machines beyond just Singers which are generally the most popular/sought after vintage sewing machines

Doug Leko's New Book Tabletastic

The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History

If you'd like to receive an email notification when this page

changes,you can subscribe to the 100% opt-in, free service

provided by ChangeDetect.com ~ they do not send unwanted email.