Kenmore 385.19233

About two years ago I made a bad sewing machine decision.  (This isn't the only one but it's the one relevant to this blog post.  For more epic fails, stay tuned!)  I needed a free arm machine and wanted it to be computerized.  Since my Janome was a flat bed and I knew that the Kenmore computerized machines were made by Janome, the eBay ad for a Kenmore 385.19233 whose dark picture and minimal description didn't reveal any of its myriad problems and the one deficiency mentioned (lack of a power cord and controller) could easily be substituted by the Janome cord/controller I already owned seemed just the ticket.  What luck!

Unfortunately, that machine doesn't work and is probably destined as a parts machine.  That's right, it's been sitting on a desk upstairs all this time because I hate to toss out the $50 I paid for it.  (Shipping was "free", i.e. I paid about $20 for the machine and $30 to have it arrive at my doorstep in filthy, deeply scratched and scraped, and non-working condition.)  It actually does turn on and the screen lights up and it can wind a bobbin with the best of them.  (I've told myself a few times that perhaps that's why I need to keep it: a large, expensive dedicated bobbin winding machine with a motherboard and LCD.  What could be more decadent?)

When I saw an ad for a "sewing machine" about 6 months ago, I did a double-take.  Yep, it's the same machine and for $40.  (What's that lesson I sort-of learned some time ago: be patient and the universe will give you both what you need and want?  Yeah, that lesson.)  Anyway, she claimed it works (and yes, it works quite well) and is complete with all its doo-dads, manual, and even a rolling trolley bag that smells funny.  It has 98 stitches, a bunch of buttonholes, and lots of presser feet and attachment thingies.  It has needle up/down.  It has a Stop button and a variable speed slider control.  It has a full rotary hook for class 15 bobbins.  It has a screen and is modern.  It has Modes.

It's actually in very good condition overall and it sews very well.  Except for one of the plastic panels being bent and causing two others to not fit tightly (Was something heavy set on it?  Was it left in a hot car and the plastic softened into a bent shape?), I managed to clean it with dish soap and warm water and a bit of Maas on the very few scratches it has (or had).

In the last picture, you can see the butt end of the first 19233 I purchased.  I may order parts and try to fix it myself.  (When you turn it on, everything is fine until you try to sew and it tells you to lower the presser foot no matter what position the presser foot or anything else happens to be in.  This is likely a sensor issue and may need a replacement, although in looking at my newer machine, I've found that it's missing a part that in part controls the position of the presser bar.  I am really not interested in configuring a motherboard but I will not pay to have a new one installed.  That is where I draw the line on computerized sewing machines.)  At least I have a working model from which to make my 'educated' guesses.

In reality, I was actually missing my big Janome 6500P.  It was the very first machine I purchased and I loved it and hardly used it because I was too busy buying more machines.  But I have this 19233 and I also have this computerized machine and this one and I even have another boo-boo computerized purchase that I haven't blogged.  Yet.  (Remember what I wrote above about epic fails?  Oh, that's a doozy.)  The 19233 isn't in the 6500Ps league.  The 6500 is a mid-priced sewing machine and the 19233 is a lower end machine, mechanically identical to the Janome DC5100 that sells for $499 new.  The Kenmore version (and again, it's the very same machine minus the magenta accents -- good call on that one, Sears) sold for a bit lower because Janome apparently didn't want it to compete with the 5100 directly and Sears customers are cheap...er, frugal.  The 19233 is at the high end of the low end, so to speak.  The kind of machine at home in a suburban sewing room with the scent of stale coffee and Chantilly.  A split-level gothic machine.

Anyway, I don't need yet another computerized sewing machine or sewing/embroidery machine.  I need more Necchis and Pfaffs.  Old metal, mechanical ones.  Ones that aren't doorstops until you replace a $400 motherboard plus labor.  Yes, I have a name for sewing machine engineers who design their machines to soak you for large sums of money when their motherboards fail and yes, that name also begins with 'mother...'