It's been a hectic weekend so far. The Scientist had catechism class, then a horseback riding lesson. Now Wildchild is off with her Brownie troop, Christmas caroling. Tomorrow morning is church, and then youth choir. Maybe I'll be able to relax tomorrow afternoon, if I don't get caught up with a sewing project with the girls.
And speaking of sewing... I'd like to start saving up for a new sewing machine next year. I'd like to get one with more stitches, and maybe an embroidery feature. I'm just frustrated, for starters, because sewing machine manufacturers don't give prices online. I can see lots of marketing-related reasons for doing that; from my point of view they just don't seem like good ones. I really can't afford to drop six grand on a sewing machine, and I'd like to have an idea what machines I can reasonably look at. Plus, prices can be found through other resources anyway, like ebay or sewing machine reviews, so why not give a list price? It would save my time trying to dig up this information.
I'm also annoyed because at least one sewing machine manufacturer puts a lot of restrictions on what their embroidery cards can be used for, and as far as I can tell, these restrictions are illegal. That is, once an item is sold, the manufacturer of the item cannot restrict what you do with the item. A pattern can be used to make an item for resale, fabric can be used to make an item for resale; I don't see any legal reason why you can't use an embroidery card to embroider anything you like for whatever reason. Of course, I'm not a lawyer, but Mr. Evil Genius knows something about copyrights and trademarks, as they relate to software and the creation of said. Anyway, it will be a while before I've saved up enough for any nice sewing machine, so I have time to look and explore things.
8 comments:
My mom just bought a traded-in Janome. She loves it, esp. the one-step buttonholer.
I'm not sure about shelling out the $$ for embroidery. I suspect it's kind of like putting a whirlpool in a new house. Everyone thinks it's a great idea, but in real life you really don't end up using it enough to justify the money you spent on it.
Of course, I'm rather a curdmudgeon on these sort of things. A one-step buttonholer would have me drooling all over you and offering house-cleaning in return for button-holes...
i heard through the grape vine that when my sister that isn't speaking to me found out i had a nice machine she went out and got one too. I think she got the Disney machine, which has copy write issues against selling any embroidered items. which is what she wanted it for i guess...
LOL
Oh, yeah...Disney is all powerful! Back when Emily was 3, she wanted a Minnie Mouse birthday cake. The local cake store rented out cake pans for everything except Disney. She said it was legal issues against making money off their items. (since Disney wont be getting their cut) I could purchase the pan and make the cake, but they couldn't rent me the pan to make the cake. If i purchased the pan Disney would still get their cut...rent=no.
I assume that stores don't put prices online so other stores lower their prices to get your business instead. I know that with Viking, most machines are on sale at various discounts all the time. Sounds like you will just have to shop around! Take notes! :o)
I might have a connection, that has a connection to a Janome dealer if you are interested, I could find out where he works. :o)
Well, it's going to be a while before I buy a sewing machine, but I guess having connections wouldn't hurt.... I hadn't even looked at Janome, because I don't know that there's a dealer around here, and I have all Berninas, but I'm open to anything.
EC, I have a standalone embroidery machine that I have used, and I like the ability to do it. The problem is it's one of the old ones that takes special cards. I think it was worth the money, but then I bought it as a trade-in.
It's my understanding that Disney cannot legally keep you from selling stuff made with their embroidery card, or made with Disney fabric they have licensed. Here is someone who claims to have successfully taken on Disney in court, as well as a lot of other big names. Usually, the problem is the big companies have the lawyers and they can scare people into compliance.
Knowing you've got 2 girls coming up on the sewing years and knowing that you've found good use for an embroidery machine in the past, then it makes a bit more sense.
Keep us posted. (Down! Green-Eyed Monster! Down, boy!)
:)
You know, I've run into that situation with rubber stamps. Stampin' Up, which is the biggest seller of craft stamps in the US, has a contract on their site that states that the only time you can use their images on something you're selling is at craft fairs. Any other selling...on the internet, etc, is against the law. It has something to do with the "Angel Clause". Their artists have copywrited their artwork and sell it on a limited basis. I guess any artistic, original design can be included in that. I don't know about the design cards for sewing...maybe it's the same thing? But if the designs were in the Angel Clause, I believe if you give credit to the company, it's ok to resell. I was really mad about this too. It still doesn't seem right that once you buy something, you can't do anything you want with it. But I guess I wouldn't want someone making copies of some original design I had done and reselling it to make money for themselves without at least giving me credit.
By credit, I mean that you SAY the design was created by me, not that I would expect money.
Miss Sniz, I tried looking up "Angel Clause" and could not find anything about it. I honestly don't see where Stampin' Up *legally* has a right to restrict what you do with their stamps. However, the problem with big companies is that they can try to scare you into following their rules by legal action. I'd be interested to know about any legal rulings Stampin' Up has to back up their claims.
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