Lidl sewing machine £69

[Maughanorama]

Hi all

I just would like to know if anyone has experience with the lidl sewing machine? It looks basic but im not after anything more than straight,zigzag,hem stitch at the moment. My machine is a second hand old fif nm800 which is does have loads of stitches and works ok but is having tension issues

[Acorn]

I have no personal experience, but I think in general people have found that it's pot luck with Lidl sewing machines and overlockers.  You may be fine, but you're pretty much equally as likely to find that you have something that drives you around the bend and becomes little more than a useless bundle of parts in a fairly short time.

[Gernella]

Is it this one:

 https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/p/crafts-hobbies/carina-sewing-machine/p39564

They are offering a 3 year guarantee so they must have every confidence in it.  Also it has quite a lot of stitches for a low cost machine.

Probably won't be as heavy as your other machine, a German brand.

[Maughanorama]

Im just thinking of getting another as my old one is whilst it works is having top tension issues randomly.
Seems that it'll do a stitch fine as soon as I add a nother layer like a zip the top thread bundles up underneath.. I suppose I should service it

[Helen M]

Im just thinking of getting another as my old one is whilst it works is having top tension issues randomly.
Seems that it'll do a stitch fine as soon as I add a nother layer like a zip the top thread bundles up underneath.. I suppose I should service it

A service will likely cost you as much as the Lidl machine though. Not wanting to sway you, but servicing isn't cheap.

[b15erk]

No experience of this sewing machine, but Lidl are very good at exchanging faulty items.  I bought one of their cheap Singer Overlockers, and the first one was faulty, second one has been fine...

Having said that, I use older machines on a daily basis, and find them excellent.  Btw, you can probably strip the tension assembly down yourself... just sayin'... :thumbsup:

Jessie

[Surest1tch]

I bought 1 a couple of years ago simply because it was lightweight and all the machines I've got are very heavy, when my back is playing up as it was at the time. I sometimes struggle to lift the heavy ones and put them where I want to use them. Rather than wait and get a good one from a proper dealer I didn't, big mistake! The best thing I can find to say about it is that it sews and if I want to sew I can use it but I really don't like it, the tension is a pig to get spot on, it's noisy which quite often fools me into thinking there's something wrong with it to the point one day I called out my machanic to have a look at it. He knows I like a good machine and couldn't believe I'd bought such a cheap one and his exact words were "you've got what you paid for".
Sorry to sound so critical but in all honesty I'd save up and get a better one, there won't be a huge difference in price for a good basic machine but if I were you I'd talk to a proper dealer, somewhere like Sewing Machines Direct or similar who are knowledgeable, they offer good prices wise and deliver quickly, that's if you want one before lockdown's over.

[Maughanorama]

Thanks all... I think ill service mine, I already had the front off its only one screw. Its weird the tensioner works fine but soon as I try to do a zip it seems to leave loads and loads of thread underneath almost like the tension is totally zero even though im set to 8.. ill strip clean and oil

[StitchinTime]

@Maughanorama

Apologies if this is an obvious question, but are you using a zipper foot for the zips? If you try to use a normal foot the zip coil can stop the foot sitting level and in close contact with the fabric which in turn causes problems with the thread.

[Maughanorama]

Yer no probs im a real noobie.. even with the zipper foot actually I used the hidden zipper foot.

It left not just little loops but big loops.

Ill give it a clean and oil. To be honest its prob 10% machine and 90% me being a newbie

[Morgan]

It may not be your tension unit at all - It may be that your presser foot clearance height may need to be reset.


Why?  - well - (ignore if you know this)
When you lower the presser foot, the mechanism also pushes a little lever or rod that causes the tension discs in the top tension unit to close up and grip the thread.  Also when the presser foot is lifted, the mechanism doesn't just lift the foot it disengages the tension unit.

Perhaps the point at which your machine's presser foot engages the tension unit is set a little bit too low and by the time you have extra bulk under the foot, the tension discs are not quite closed enough and the result is the loose and loopy thread. 


then of course, it could be something completely different - it's just a process of elimination until you find the reason.

[Maughanorama]

That does make sense as I need to set my tension to at least 8 for a good stitch.


I'll check and have play