O'Sew Handheld Sewing Machine

Midway through sewing all these clothes, my Brother mechanical sewing machine broke down. Not surprising as it's 15 years old, I was not even going to bother about bringing it to the repair shop. Luckily, I had purchased this o'sew handheld sewing machine from Spotlight, just to play with and review. Finally, I can put it to good use.

This sewing machine comes with all the usual parts of a regular sewing machine (no problem getting replacement parts) however the similarities end there. It's shape & size is like a stapler, the power source comes from batteries (wireless), instead of a presser foot you have a switch, The speed and direction is pre-set and can't be changed. Lastly, you load either a bobbin or thread spool, not both.

The trouble with this is that my hands got tired from operating this thing after a while, you can place this on the table and leave it to sew but you lose control of the fabric. Lifting the foot takes effort as the machine is constructed to hold the fabric down. Also, you can't just sew 1 row of stitches and expect it to hold, you are expected to lift the foot without tugging the fabric and turn it around to sew a 2nd row of stitches in order for it to stay.

What's great about this is that it does work quite well. It allows the user more flexibility in their sewing, it's small and lightweight so you can slip it into your tote instead of lugging a 10kg machine around, it's convenient to setup and operate. It's also affordable @ $24.99, I bought mine @ $12.49 (half price).

Overall, I was reminded of old-fashioned sewing machines that our grandmothers had. It didn't have all the bells and whistles like auto-threading. This is meant to be another tool for your sewing and not a replacement for the sewing machine. I think fashion design students and anyone else in the rag trade will find this tool helpful. Because of the price, its a great way to start young kids on sewing.