The Sewing Place

Bernini 707 minimatic

Lachica

Bernini 707 minimatic
« on: April 11, 2018, 12:01:40 PM »
I've just bought one of these. It's very portable, much lighter than my big Pfaff, so I plan to use it at sewing club where I can't lug my big Pfaff upstairs. The Bernina seems in good condition, I've cleaned & oiled it, there's no rust and very little wear, though the smaller belt will be replaced as it has a set in it where it's been in one position for a long while. It makes lovely neat stitches, all of them (the cam stack is in good condition). I've brought it on holiday to have a play! The shell satin edging stitch works very nicely, I'm thinking it would be good for a toddler's dress, using embroidery thread.

I notice that a shank adaptor is available to enable use of modern snap-on feet. Anyone got one? Does it work?
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

b15erk

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2018, 12:08:41 PM »
I bought one of these adaptors some time ago for use with my 730 Record, and it does fit well, but I can't really say that I've used it a lot.  Like you I need to replace the belts at some point as it affects the smooth sewing, and makes the machine snatch at the fabric.

I don't know anything about which patterns are available on the Minimatic, but on the 730, the embroidery stitches are excellent quality.

Enjoy!

Jessie
Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

arrow

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2018, 16:19:54 PM »
Among the 700 numbers are some of my favorites. I have the 730, it's portable but heavy. Some of them are more portable, my 900 is a bit lighter and it has the handle on top of the machine. 707 might have some advantages that way. They run nice and smoothly, and as long as they are kept up they are among the most trouble free machines I have used. My 730 has been in for service a few times in it's life, not many at all. Very nice zigzag and the freearm is narrower than on many other machines.

Lachica

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2018, 16:33:40 PM »
Yes, @arrow, the freearm is tiny and I think will be much easier for sleeves in toddler dresses than using my big Pfaff. I've been reading the manual and am excited to try out some of the edging techniques. It has 6 feet, all the standard ones it was supplied with. Unfortunately it only has one bobbin but I have a couple of plastic ones which fit the bobbin case but don't fit on the bobbin winding spindle very well. Their groove isn't well defined but if lined up with the pip on the spindle they wind ok. Easier to buy some new I think. My big problem is that there's no needle threader -yesterday I had to remove the needle, use a hand threader then refit the needle. I didn't bring my needle threader from my overlocker on hols with me :'(
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

Lachica

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2018, 16:40:27 PM »
Thanks @b15erk, that was a quick reply! Good to know they fit, but I shall restrain myself until I have a use for more feet.....I recently gave away a whole load of clip on feet that I had spare :angry:
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

arrow

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2018, 20:03:40 PM »
I haven't been that lucky with clip-on feet, the types I have had have been flimsy things. They weren't genuine Bernina tough. There is a snap on foot for the newer Berninas, and I think there should be for the older ones too. There are some types of feet where the old Bernina version had some advantages; they sort of line up better with the feed dogs. I don't have complete overview of this, but there has been a couple of cases were the converter foot for low shank want that good. General low shank doesn't always go well with all makes and models which in theory are low shank, I have broken two darning / embroidery feet because the alignment with the needle arm was wrong. On an old 99 nothing broke, but the foot dragged the presser bar half way up with the needle movement and made an awful noise. Sometimes the only thing is to try and see. 

Lachica

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #6 on: April 12, 2018, 21:45:59 PM »
Played embroidery today. Used bobbinfill on the bottom and embroidery thread, dialled down top tension a lot, to get these
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

Lachica

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #7 on: April 12, 2018, 21:47:42 PM »
Also followed manual to try out a shell edging using blind hem stitch with standard foot
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

Lachica

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #8 on: April 12, 2018, 21:52:27 PM »
I was fascinated to see that the manual devotes 2 pages to patching and 3 to darning! Talk of darning 'fine socks' and a different method for darning wool. How times have changed in 50 years. I was going to use stabiliser for the embroidery stitches but the manual says use paper! 'Not tissue paper, which is rather thin, but typewriter paper should suffice'. I used printer paper, and it worked perfectly.
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

StitchinTime

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2018, 07:02:27 AM »
For the embroidery stitches, have you tried using normal thread in the bobbin? You might not have to adjust the tension so much as special bobbin threads may not have been around when these machines were made.

arrow

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2018, 12:44:59 PM »
I don't know if you should bother, but I think there are two types of bobbins for these models. I can't find the place were I read it, but the difference was "black latch" or "gold latch" bobbin case, something like that. I think there were one for thicker threads, not sure if there are any for the transparent fishing line type. Bobbin tension can be a bother, a second bobbin case set for embroidery thread can be handy since this machine in general doesn't need much fine tuning for regular sewing. The tension tends to be very forgiving when once set.

Lachica

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2018, 19:11:47 PM »
Thanks @StitchinTime and @arrow. I won't be doing much embroidery on this as have my Pfaff for that. I thought it might do a nice twin needle pintuck on fine cotton for a toddler dress and likewise, scalloped hem, though reading the manual, this looks really fiddly and involves feeding Perle cord(sic) through the foot for a second pass on top of the first stitching. Don't think I can be bothered! @stitchin time, good point about the bobbin thread, I hadn't thought of that.
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

crafter

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #12 on: April 13, 2018, 19:28:37 PM »

I notice that a shank adaptor is available to enable use of modern snap-on feet. Anyone got one? Does it work?

I have one of these that I bought for my Bernina Artista 180 and I am currently using on a vintage Frister & Rossman.  Doesn't give me any problems.  Most of my snap on feet are from a Brother machine.


Lachica

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2018, 18:08:28 PM »
@crafter, that'll teach me to give away all my spare snap-on feet!
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

Lachica

Re: Bernini 707 minimatic
« Reply #14 on: April 19, 2018, 08:48:35 AM »
@arrow, have you any experience of Bernina foot controls? I can't easily control the speed, I'm wondering if there's a fault with the foot pedal. It looks to me as though it's just an on/off switch but maybe the white ceramic thing in the middle is a rheostat?

The machine itself has a min/ max slider switch but that doesn't seem to make much difference either.
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.