I did it. I bought a new sewing machine.
Not a cheapo one from Lidl (you know how much I love those) but a Janome from a proper sewing machine shop!
It was the Burda onesie that was the final straw for the Elna Supermatic. Much as I love that machine, I have to admit that it can't cope with anything other than straight stitch these days, and there I was trying to use a twin needle through 5 layers of akwardly tight jersey. This is what happens to you when you're 50 years old (the machine, not me!). There was a great deal of changing needles (I started off with a 6mm twin needle and ended up with a 2mm one), a lot of skipped stitches, and a long time spent pulling things out and starting again.
And then there is the button hole issue (it doesn't do them), which is a pretty basic requirement I can no longer do without.
It was a bit of an eye opener looking for a new machine after sewing on the Elna for about 20 years. Things have certainly moved on! There are lots of things I'll miss about the Elna (the knee bar being one of the biggest) and in some respects it is easier and better than this new one, but there will be no more skipped stitches, there will be buttonholes, and it even has a range of stitches specially for stretch fabrics which I have already used several times (although the most useful one has the fabric edge on the left of the presser foot which takes a bit of getting used to).
No doubt I shall go back to the Elna occasionally, and I certainly won't be getting rid of it, but I am well on the way to mastering this new one and pretty pleased with it so far too.
p.s. It's a Janome 2522LE and I got it from here.








