The Sewing Place

Sewing machine light

Elnnina

Sewing machine light
« on: July 13, 2019, 11:49:07 AM »

The other week there was a mention of a sewing machine lamp that fastens on to the end of the machine and a flexible tube with an LED light in the end that will come round so you can position the light just where you need it on the sewing machine bed, i.e. right by the foot.

I had also gone into our county town to Hobbycraft with the sole intention of buying one of these as they had them available on line, but was disappointed that they do not sell these in the actual shops only on line.

Well I eventually tracked one down, this is by The Daylight Company, and it has just arrived, and oh what a dinky little gadget it is, extremely light, and whilst I was concerned about yet another electrical cable on my sewing table, this comes with some self adhesive clips that you can position along the back of the machine body high up so there is no chance of fabric going through the machine and getting caught up with the cable.  Needless to say I am looking forward to setting this up and seeing if this will help me to see what I am doing better.  It better had as I went for an eye test yesterday and need a new pair of glasses and they are costing me an absolute fortune, so combined with the lamp there should be no stopping me now.

coffeeandcake

Re: Sewing machine light
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2019, 13:38:49 PM »
@Elnnina I have one of these and agree that it is nice and bright.  If you haven't done so already I would recomend trialling different positions to place it on your machine.  I stuck the holder (there is a spare also) on the left hand side of my main machine at what I thought was a fairly high point, but find that the light can interfere with my left hand when guiding fabric under the needle.  I wanted to use the spare holder on another machine but am thinking about attaching it to the back of the main machine.  I still need to fiddle about with it really.  The adhesive cable clips are really useful for keeping the cable tidy.

Elnnina

Re: Sewing machine light
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2019, 14:53:29 PM »
Coffeeandcake before I ordered my sewing machine lamp I asked if it was possible to buy extra pads and the answer was yes, they came in a pack of two sticky backed circles and then 6 small clips BUT they were expensive for what they are, I knew I would need more because I have more than two machines that I will need the extra light for.  I must admit it is getting ridiculous to get sewing these days I just need much more light, so I have a pair of Daylight Tubes up on a very high ceiling, a desk anglepoise lamp with a Daylight bulb in, another floor standing lamp with a Daylight tube in, this also has an attached magnifier, I also have a separate magnifier which I can attach so it is in front of the machine - so useful as only one machine has the facility for a magnifier to be attached, I  also have a daylight bulb in the machine and now this extra lamp plus an expensive new pair of glasses coming this week I hope.  My room does sort of face Northeast which is a good light for sewing in, or I can take hand sewing with me into another room which will be filled with sunlight when it is out, and there I have double spotlamps.

I did play around trying to position this lamp before I took the backing off, I just hope that the heat generated by the lamp within the machine does not dry this out so much that the stickiness is gone.

Kenora

Re: Sewing machine light
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2019, 17:38:58 PM »
I have one of these which I use on my overlocker. It's great, and I don't find the lamp heats up at all, so all good.
Minding my P's & Q's in Portreath

Vezelay

Re: Sewing machine light
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2019, 20:22:06 PM »
I got one about 2 weeks ago after seeing that post @Elnnina mentions. I put one mount on my sewing machine, the second on the overlocker and it takes 10 seconds at most to swap the light over. It has transformed my sewing experience as now I can actually see what I'm doing! . :)

I enquired about getting a pack of two extra mounts as I want one for my coverstitcher too. Daylight UK don't sell them but they direct you to someone who does - the cost with VAT and delivery came to around £20 - even more to Ireland so might as well get another lamp for £28 from Amazon.

annieeg

Re: Sewing machine light
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2019, 09:52:12 AM »
@Elnnina
Would you mind reposting the link to this light? 
Many thanks.
Annie

Elnnina

Re: Sewing machine light
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2019, 10:48:32 AM »
Annieeg the annoying thing is I cannot recall who posted about this lamp in the first place, but I do not think it was under Machine Accessories and  it was somewhere around the middle of June.

With regards to the sewing machine lamp go into Google and type in sewing machine lamp and I hope one comes up saying Heamar  they are based up in  Congleton in Cheshire phone number is 01260 297500 and the person I spoke to actually answered the phone and she was Millie.  The number of this lamp as printed on the back of the card it comes on is DN1180 and is manufactured by the Daylight Company.  Cost of the lamp is  £24.60  It is mounted on a card and in a shaped plastic packaging and would hang off a peg in a shop - it is not in a box.  It is very light and I am impressed so far with this lamp and for me is going to make a huge difference - that is the important part.

The extra set of self adhesive pads and clips (there are two pads and  six clips per pack) are part number SPN1180A  and cost  £10.80 plus VAT. per pack.  They were posted in a jiffy bag and came through the ordinary post very quickly.

Vezelay - like you have found I knew I would need more fixing pads than the extra one that comes with the lamp, only I was mistaken about the cost, on my original enquiry I said I would like three more pads, was told the part number and price but not that there were two pads in each pack.   So I thought the lamp and the extra pads were all coming together as that had been discussed, only apparently the money I had paid was just for the pads and clips and not the lamp so yes quite an expensive exercise and yes it would have been cheaper to buy a second lamp.

I used my lamp yesterday afternoon have fitted this to my older Bernina and have positioned the pad up high so hopefully it will not get 'baked' by the machine's own lamp being on, and I agree with you what a difference it has made already.  I will be fitting the spare mount to my overlocker today as I need to use that  sometime today as well.  Then the other pads will get fastened to the other machines as I get them out to use.

I suppose if you go looking around you may find this cheaper than what I have paid for the actual lamp but I have an aversion to e-bay - but then that is my choice.

Ohsewsimple


Elnnina

Re: Sewing machine light
« Reply #8 on: July 14, 2019, 11:53:15 AM »
Yes this is the one only mine was £4 cheaper through a company called Heamar in Congleton, Cheshire.

Vezelay

Re: Sewing machine light
« Reply #9 on: July 15, 2019, 08:22:04 AM »
Yes this is the one only mine was £4 cheaper through a company called Heamar in Congleton, Cheshire.

Just to mention that Haemar's quoted price is ex VAT and P&p so for many Amazon will be cheaper.
« Last Edit: July 15, 2019, 10:22:21 AM by Vezelay »

Ohsewsimple

Re: Sewing machine light
« Reply #10 on: July 15, 2019, 10:09:45 AM »
@Vezelay you beat me to it!  But they do have a wonderful assortment of lights.

Elnnina

Re: Sewing machine light
« Reply #11 on: July 15, 2019, 10:43:32 AM »
I know I paid VAT on the extra pads and clips, and was I thought misled  over the price, as originally I said I wanted three extra pads and was given the price of £10.80, no mention of VAT at all at that stage nor that the packs had two extra pads and six clips in each pack.  I also thought I had made it clear that I wanted a lamp as well on the second time I phoned and  thought the price they quoted was for everything.  However I knew they were out of stock and had to wait a couple of weeks, so was surprised when they phoned to query my address and yes I have an awkward address and often people get this wrong.  The package of extra pads and clips arrived the following day in a jiffy bag.  I waited and waited for the lamp and no sign of this, so rang them again and was told I hadn't ordered a lamp, but they would send one straight away and it would come the  next day.  ( I am wondering whether they realised that perhaps they had made a mistake??)

Now only last week we had an odd phone call from what seemed like our bank, only it woke me up in the morning and once my husband had taken the phone from me he walked off with it.  This was another of those phone scams only this time on a credit card.  My husband is ex bank so he rang a totally different number that connected him to the bank and they were able  to confirm that there was nothing untoward going on with our credit card, but my husband was unaware that I had used it for a couple of purchases, and one was for the lamp and as far as I am concerned I have only paid £24.60 for this and no P&P.  However only time will tell when we get the credit card statement.

I now have the lamp set up onto two different machines, and what a difference it is making, I am still awaiting news of my new glasses and I am sure they will help as well.  I wanted the extra pads as I have other machines which I use - and if I had known VAT was going to be added to everything then yes I would have bought two lamps but then I would still have one machine without a fitting for the lamp.  By the way the main fixing pad for the machine is sticky backed, and the plastic on this has two channels which the lamp's base slides on to - so you do really need the proper sticky backed base on order to fix this to the machine.

I cannot get out and about that easily and if I go into a town really have to think carefully what and where I need to go and choose the car park nearest and my time limit is abut half and hour before my back really plays up and I cannot walk.  So I am rather forced into using the internet to do a lot of my shopping and it has been so easy.  Only perhaps with what has just happened I need to wake up a bit and check about VAT and P&P - but this was all done by a phone call after seeing it advertised on a website.  I had actually gone into our County town to a Hobbycraft especially for this lamp - now I am not a frequent visitor to Hobbycraft ( second time only) and yes they had various lamps there but nothing like this small machine lamp - and when I paid for my other shopping the assistant said they never stock this particular lamp and that it was via their website only.

annieeg

Re: Sewing machine light
« Reply #12 on: July 15, 2019, 22:20:14 PM »
@Elnnina
Thanks for all the helpful information.
I fully intend to buy one come July payday. :D