BERNINA Sewing Machines : Fresh Lemons Quilts

Hello everyone! Today I'm beyond thrilled to be sharing with you a new adventure I'll be embarking on over the next year. I have partnered with Bernina USA and the We All Sew team to review the Bernina 750QE sewing machine, which they are providing for me, as well as contribute some fun projects on the We All Sew blog. If this is your first time here on my blog and you came over from Bernina, welcome!

Looking back over my life since I was old enough to have a job, there are two, what I think of as "life changing", things that I have saved for and purchased. The first was in high school. I saved my money and at a point in time where everyone was buying clothes or a used car, I bought my first computer. I actually remember the day it arrived - and the monitor was late so I just had the CPU sitting there! (My dad loaned me his computer monitor so I could set it up and play). You see, I took my first computer programming class in High School and I loved it so much. This was the early 1990's, I think before most teenagers knew anything about coding programs. I think I was either the only girl in the class, or one of two. I went on to major in Systems Analysis and work as a web developer until staying home with my kids.

The second "life changing" purchase that I made came in 2009 when I bought my first Bernina. My mom sewed on a Bernina and encouraged me to look at them and bring one home. I bought the 440 QE and when I set up and started sewing, everything seemed to change. The quality of the machine, stitches, the walking foot, the Bernina Stitch Regulator (once I got the hang of it)...I was in love. Each day I sat at my machine and knew I would get the best quality from my time there. The joy I have had at that machine has encouraged me to sew, sew and sew some more.

Included feet with 750QE

I am beyond excited about this new partnership with Bernina. I picked up the new machine on Monday and I will be sewing on it for the next year and letting you all know how it goes along the way. I have high expectations!

Bernina 440 and 750 : Fresh Lemons Quilts

Above you can see the size difference between the 440 and 750. Honestly, when I was using it in the store I didn't think it seemed much bigger. I'm going to go ahead and call that the "Costco effect". Do you guys shop there? As soon as you walk in there are a ton of tvs. Big tvs. But they don't look so big in the store. You think "wow, 55" looks small. Maybe I need a 65". Or a 70." Then you get it home and realize "WOW, that is actually a very large television!" Right?? Anyway! It's a lot bigger.

Here is a comparison of the throat space, with the 440 behind the 750.

I can't wait to get a quilt in there, this weekend hopefully!

I do have some initial just-out-of-the-box impressions. To be honest, I've already sewn an entire quilt top on it. And a whole bunch of decorative stitches. Just a wee bit excited...

As soon as I got it home, based on the recommendation of the gentleman who trained me (Seth at Gentler Times in Naperville, IL), I oiled it and changed out the needle. For piecing I'm using a 80/11 Microtex Sharp needle.

I also purchased an additional stitch plate for piecing - the Straight Stitch Plate. You can see the difference below, the straight stitch plate is on the machine and the stitch plate it comes with is to the right. Many people feel they achieve more accurate piecing with the straight stitch plate so I'm trying it out. So far, so good!

There are a couple things I noticed right away. It is very quiet. Much quieter than the 440 (which I thought was super quiet when I bought it!) The 750 has the knee lift I'm accustomed to but I feels much more solid that the 440's knee lift, which despite the massive table where I sew, still shakes loose when I'm going super fast.

It has some "new to me" features like a thread cutter and dual feed system. That's the white guy you see on the back below.

This helps evenly guide the fabric while I piece. It swings up out of the way when I'm not using it (which I'm guessing will be rare!)

There's also a giant bobbin. Huge. Here it is compared to the bobbin in my 440.

It also has this cool feature where you can't put the bobbin in the bobbin case backwards. As you can see, it just sets on top if you are doing it wrong. Flip it over and it slides right in.

The fancy touch screen controls are really nice. There's a ton of information there and I have a feeling that even in 12 months I won't have seen everything. I do love that when you change a setting, like for example increase the stitch length, it visually changes on the screen.

I hope you are as excited as me to go on this journey! I'll still be posting regularly here, don't worry. I will just be throwing even more sewing machine information into the mix! And keep an eye out on the We All Sew blog. My first project, a Summer Quilt Along, will be starting over there very soon.

A New Adventure with Bernina

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