The Sewing Place

Machine Talk => Sewing Machines => Topic started by: Efemera on July 18, 2020, 08:41:38 AM

Title: Frank Nutt?
Post by: Efemera on July 18, 2020, 08:41:38 AM
Anyone had dealings with Frank Nutt in Birmingham?... he has both machines I’d like to try, a Bernina 740 and a Pfaff 720.
Title: Re: Frank Nutt?
Post by: Celia on July 18, 2020, 08:59:15 AM
YES in my opinion he is one of the best multi branded dealer in the country.  I have bought from him in the past and also once had a problem machine which he dealt with in a first class manor.
I have worked in the industry but have never worked for either for him or Bernina so I think my opinion is unbiased.

Do let us know what you think of the 2 machines
Title: Re: Frank Nutt?
Post by: SingingSinger on July 18, 2020, 09:05:03 AM
The Nutt family of sewing machine shops in Birmingham have a good and long established reputation I believe. I bought my Brother Innovis SE350 from L&M Nutt and they were brilliant, allowing me to try lots of machines in the shop with no pressure to buy. I've been back to look at overlockers and got good advice.
Title: Re: Frank Nutt?
Post by: Pearl on July 18, 2020, 09:15:05 AM
Not personally, but I have several friends who have bought machines there and they speak highly of the service they received.
Title: Re: Frank Nutt?
Post by: KayK on July 18, 2020, 20:10:52 PM
I bought the dreaded Juki from them, and had a terrible time getting things sorted out, due to lockdown.  However, all ended well and they were very helpful in a difficult time, and my new Bernina arrived the day after they posted it!
Title: Re: Frank Nutt?
Post by: Elnnina on July 30, 2020, 15:37:02 PM
Efemera have you decided yet about which possible new machine you are going to get?

I have typed out the following, it may help you make up your mind.

Yes the Bernina feet and accessories are expensive, but the feet are certainly good and solid unlike some makes.  When I bought my Artista I requested that if my family wanted to know what to give me for Christmas and birthday presents then Bernina feet would fit the bill nicely – I actually did the buying of them, so that I made sure that they were for my particular machine.  I was also pointed in the direction of the Bernina - Bogod’s Warehouse down in Cardiff, and now I always buy any feet or accessory direct from them.  The service is so quick, sometimes the next day and the two ladies I have dealt with Rachel and Jackie are brilliant – they know what they are doing.  Also on the Bernina UK website they have during the last year or so been offering an accessory or foot of the month, so quite a saving to be had, and of course they put up what they are offering.

Of course if you are going down the 700 series, I expect the feet and the bobbins are going to so different from certainly what I have, the machine probably comes with an accessory box – in other words what has become   known as the Bernina ‘Wardrobe’, and the feet hang from racks, my machine a good few years ago now came with two wardrobes which I have filled up, so I got in touch with Rachel at Cardiff and bought another wardrobe and the appropriate rack which I needed to hang the feet with the larger sensors on the side on.

My Artista also came with its own special  bag and trolley system called the Bernina Suitcase system.  However I couldn’t store my embroidery unit where I wanted to and started looking for the matching bag for this (will sit on top of the machine in its bag on the trolley).  Bernina had then changed the design of the then current bags and I  thought mine was much nicer.  I got in touch with the then Dawn in Bernina London – she has since retired, and asked her if she knew of any dealers that might have had an original embroidery bag.  Well later that day she came back to me saying ‘you just knew I would find you one’.  They just had the embroidery bag floating around the London offices for a while, and then Bogod moved premises in London, and the new premises were smaller.  So during the move all surplus stuff was despatched to the Cardiff Warehouse into what was known as the ‘London Room’.  Dawn got in touch with Rachel and asked her to go into the ‘London Room’ to find this bag.  Dawn then spoke to her boss and got a decent price for this, and it was despatched to me in a huge box which arrived the next day – the box was big enough for my then young grandson to be able to get into.  The embroidery unit bag is certainly not big enough for him to get into!!!

So ever since I have dealt with Rachel down in the Cardiff Warehouse and she certainly knows her stuff and always goes the extra mile for me.  There was the time when I needed the bigger rack to hang my feet with sensors on, the one they sent me was too small and they couldn’t understand it, so Rachel whilst still on the phone to me walked into the stock room where a very knowledgeable man knew his stuff, and between the three of us eventually found the appropriate rack – whilst I do not have one of these super huge machines like the 800 or 700 series, some of the feet  I have have these large square sensors on the side and the rack needed for them are the racks for the bigger feet for (they look totally different) the 800 or 700 series – so the Stockman, Rachel and her team all now know and have put a reference to this in their books/computer programme.

They also sent me free of charge a very useful book of all the attachments for the machines, and in the front they have listed in groups which category the machine number itself belongs to, so when going through and looking at the various feet etc. you can easily pick up the part number for your particular machine, and I prefer to phone them with my order – it is always nice to chat to Rachel or Jackie.

For those who are interested in Bernina’s (Bogod) UK warehouse/shop their address is:
Bogod Machine Company, Fortran Road, St. Mellons, Cardiff CF3 0WJ.  Phone is:  029 2079 2079



 
Title: Re: Frank Nutt?
Post by: Efemera on July 30, 2020, 16:00:49 PM
I joined a Bernina group on FB and can honestly say there’s lots of posts with problems with the Bernina 7 series. From what they say to they are high maintenance machines.. have to be oiled every time you use it, can’t be doing with that! For me they seem to be too clever for their own good, too much tech. I’ll, probably go with the Pfaff 720.
Title: Re: Frank Nutt?
Post by: Sewingsue on July 30, 2020, 17:05:15 PM
3 wardrobes @Elnnina ?
That's impressive.
Title: Re: Frank Nutt?
Post by: Elnnina on July 30, 2020, 17:46:25 PM
Sewingsue  well yes I suppose it does sound a lot, but I do have so many feet for my Artista, there are a few spaces left.

Trouble is I never seem to know what I would like when it comes to Christmas and Birthday, and at least these feet and accessories are going to be useful to me and far better than chocolates or toiletries etc.  Also this was a lovely way to build up such a wonderful collection.  I did this also for my Elna SU when I first bought this machine back in 1975, I added feet and the embroidery is done by using either single or double discs and there are a lot of discs, however whilst I still have this machine, the width of stitches is not huge and neither can you elongate the patterns.

For my sins I found a lovely collection of Bernina videos from Bernina USA,  have a look on  thequiltshow.com they are not very long, and the experts show you how to use the feet, and they were not necessarily on the latest machine which was good.  So I have built up my collection over several years.  I also scoured many sewing machine shops and the internet looking for something that Bernina UK did a good few years ago and these were a set of about 24 Sewing Leaflets, again showing you what to use the different feet for, and then Bernina went on to produce something called Bernina Collection - I do not know how many were in that series, I have only managed to find a few but oh they are so useful, and it is lovely to be able to try and follow exactly what to do.  Part of being able to sew is having the time to play and of course this is the fun part.