local reference?

[saffronhare]

What was the name of the KC-area (JoCo, I think) shop that folks bring their sewing machines to for service and repairs?

I'd like to buckle down on some unfinished and new projects soon, but I think a tune-up is in order. Mine is not a very complicated machine, but it's showing the need for a good cleaning/oiling/recalibrating. I remember thinking it was somewhere near 95th & Antioch, but I can't recall exactly!

Thanks. :)

ETA: This has been very helpful. If folks have a non-JoCo option that's not too far away to recommend, I'd be grateful. Mostly, I was failing to remember the specific name/location of a specific place I'd seen recommended before. It's the sort of thing that keeps me up at night, you know?

Comments

[bleuberi21.livejournal.com]

I think Susi takes hers to a Bernina shop in Independence, but I don't know the name of it.

Oh! I think it's Mar-Beck...could be wrong.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

The Bernina by Nikki(mine) is SW of 95th and Metcalf, seems to be the closest to the area she was thinking about.

[tafl-hols.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Mar-Beck is at 95th and Antioch. Or was...I vaguely remember a sign in the window saying it was moving, though that could have been the place next to it.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

That might be the very one I was thinking of. Hrm.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Did you see the ad for a $150 serger?

Google maps puts Bernina, Missouri Sewing Machine Company, Sew Easy, and a Singer center in your area, among others... do any of them sound like it?

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

No, I did not see the ad, you not-helpful person. :)

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

It was on the KC list... here on LJ. 8-)

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Ah. I'm not subscribed to that one...only see it when I riffle through *your* friends list! Except she was asking $1,500 for it...not $150.

I think there's a decimal problem, floating around (pun not intended, but still wonderful)

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

I saw $150... I've never seen a serger over $500. I

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

I went back and looked, it's a $2000 serger marked down to $1500... Huh?

I checked ebay, and it confirmed that the only things hitting over a grand tend to be embroidery machines. I posted a note to the original entry.

It's possible that it is a commercial machine, but I doubt it. Granted, $200 is still a generally mid/low-end machine for sergers... I'm all curious now... I may learn a lot.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

A reliably good serger is going to cost more than $1,000.

My friends who own Bernina sergers have paid upwards of $3,000 for the ones that are top of the line. I've owned less expensive sergers and I can honestly say that I would rather chew off my arm than rely on a serger than retails (new) for less than $1,000.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Wow, so good Sergers are sort of like Pfaff sewing machines... you don't see them for sale that often because they are THAT awesome. 8-)

That also makes sense why I am not real fond of the sergers I've had. I still have the one Drea passed down to me years ago, but the other one I picked up cheap (even though it was a Singer) pretty much got given back to the person for no cost.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

you don't see them for sale that often because they are THAT awesome

Yep.

And oh yeah. Singer sergers are abominable. So are ones by Simplicity. Run. Run away.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Sounds like sewing machines made by Brother. It seems like it should be illegal to sell a $200 piece of machinery that can't make it through more than a few projects.

Good to know on Singer Sergers... I have an 'academic' model Singer for regular sewing, which is awesome... it doesn't have anything fancy, it's just durable enough to keep going forever. And it can make saffronhare giggle because "it's got a Hemi!". It's good to know when a trusted name in one area doesn't mean it's trusted in all areas. 8-)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I took mine to Sew Easy on Quivira for years. That's where I bought the machine, and they were just super.

But then they changed management three years ago and really did a number on my beloved Elna. I never went back. I know that's not exactly the information you were looking for, but I wanted to speak up to recommend against taking it there!

[kaymyth.livejournal.com]

The one you're thinking of is Missouri Sewing Machine. I actually have mine in for exactly the same reason at that very same place right now. :)

Edit:
Also, last I saw, the store is misplaced on Google Maps. It's basically right on the NW section of the Oak Park Mall intersection.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

I think that does narrow it down a bit, since that intersection includes a 95th street intersection. Could you please let me know how satisfied you are with them?

[kaymyth.livejournal.com]

Will do, though it's liable to be another week or two before I get the machine back.

What I can pass on now, though, is that when I went in to Hancock Fabrics and asked the folks who work there if they do work on sewing machines, the said, "Er, yes, we contract with someone here. But, um, we actually take our personal machines to Missouri Sewing Machine."

So while it's not going to be cheap (about $60 or so), they did come highly recommended.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Egad. That's, like, $500 more than I paid for the machine. :)

And I'm an idiot. I read "$600" there instead of "$60." ::headdesk::

[kaymyth.livejournal.com]

*giggle*

Sorry. :)

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

What? Sorry that I couldn't read the numbers? Pshaw. :)

[kaymyth.livejournal.com]

No, sorry for laughing at you! Couldn't help it, though. :)

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Oh! That? Hee. It *was* silly. And I'm not such a mean human being, that I'd think you were wrong for laughing at a foible. :)