Singer 4205 Inspiration Sewing Machine

I always considered Singer to have good machines- after all, theyve been around FOREVER! Practically an american trademark no? Well, my hubby bought me this machine for christmas and I loved it at first! Was SO much better than my Pixie I was used to! Weeeeell, not long after I started using it, it started messing up. My stitches were very loose and loopy at the bottom, rethreaded helped sometimes. Adjusting the tension did nothing. Then in the middle of sewing a STRIAGHT LINE I heard a loud CLICK and it stopped sewing. The timing was off. On my brand new sewing machine. Absouletely ridiculous! Definitely NOT an operator error! I was doing nothing different at the time, just sewing a plain straight stitch using a lightweight COTTON material! >.< SO I called Singer and tried to get them to uphold thier 90 day unlimited warranty. No such luck! For them to uphold thier warranty, I would either have to spend $40 to ship it to the nearest warranty center or drive 3 hours to get there! What lousy customer service! Not helpful WHATSOEVER. FUrthermore, I was told it was MY FAULT. 0.o Defintely not my fault.So, I went to return it to Joanns. I was given the run around and after contacting thier headquarters and the local overseer I was able to exchange it for a different machine, same model though as I was convinced it was simply a defect. Nope this one gives me the SAME problems. Same damn things. And its remarkable the thing breask RIGHT AFTER the unlimited warranty expires! I will never buy a Singer machine again. Total crap in my opinion. I now have a Janome Machine on the way after hearing wonderful things about Janome.I learned how to sew at a VERY young age on my grandmothers commercial sewing machines. Then had a machine all growing up that flooded during a hurricane. (Brother machine). This was the first brand I have EVRE had problems with. Im very dissapointed too since I had such high expectations... Its a pretty machine, but all it gave me was frustrations and tears. Not worth it. Definitely NOT WORTH IT.

I'm a novice sewer, so perhaps my experience is not typical of those who sew well and often, but I've had nothing but trouble with this machine. The birdnesting issues resurface everytime I rethread the machine, and while the machine works well for me in spurts, there is no consistency. I play with different needle sizes and with the upper thread tension, but with little luck. Even when the tension seems balanced, the machine will skip stitches randomly and occasionally reject a brand new needle (meaning that the needle will ram into some part of the bobbin case even if it doesn't look bent). I have been stranded in the middle of a project for months. In short, my experience learning to sew has been even more frustrating than I expected because of the difficulties with this machine.

I bought this machine on sale 2 years ago. I am an amateur. I learned to sew with this machine. I've been lucky and have had no issues with it. I've made a number of blankets and dresses and john-johns with the machine. I do basic stuff though. the only thing I find really tricky is button holes, but, as I've said, I have no training other than youtube videos and the cd that came with the machine. I would buy a singer whenever I do decide to upgrade. as of right now, it completes the projects I want to complete.if you want to learn the basics and don't want to spend an arm and a leg, this is a good machine.

My husband bought this machine back in 2009. I have used it to sew dresses, some blankets and crafting projects. I've had some few problems with the treath before specially when I was using a cheap one. I just realized yesterday I had never clean it or put lubricant, honestly I felt terrible. So I did it and is working even better.I read all the negative comments before, which were surprising to me, since my experience with this machine has been excellent.I just bought a new foot to do the free motion quilting, I tried it, and it sews perfect!I recommend this sewing machine to anyone, who wants to do regular sewing with it, nothing fancy.

I have used a variety of different sewing machines over the years. I have always been fond of Singer as that is what my mother used. I bought the Inspiration to leave it set up in one corner of my sewing room so I could do some quilt block sewing anytime I had a few minutes. I did not use the machine even 1 hour before it quit picking up the bobbin thread. I read the manual carefully thinking I could figure out what was wrong. I called the company and only got generic answering machines. Finally I posted on line and someone told me that the timing was off & I would have to take it to a repair shop to have it fixed. Really? I did nothing to cause the machine to get out of time. The pieces of fabric I was sewing were not heavy material, just two pieces of ordinary cotton. I have put much heavier fabric such as denim through other machines & have never had those machines get out of time. Anyway, I took the machine along with the instruction manual to our local repair shop. Several days later the repairman called to say he could not fix the machine as he did not understand how to get it back into time. Now this is an experienced guy who has fixed numerous machines for me & my quilting buddies. I do not live close to any other towns where the repair service is offered. The machine currently sits in the corner gathering dust. I am now trying to decide if it is worth putting more money into. Everyone I speak with who has used them says the timing gets off with the slightest provocation. It sounds like a person better be married to a repairman if they want to own one of these machines. Otherwise all you will do is take them to the shop.