It's A Sewing Machine…It's An Embroidery Machine

A review of Artista 165E Sewing and Embroidery Machine from Bernina

Click the picture to visit the Artista 165E Sewing Machine page

Bernina's Artista 165E is an electronic sewing machine that comes with a separate plug-in embroidery unit. With the entire embroidery mechanism in a separate unit, the basic sewing machine stays light enough to be easily portable.

This week I'll review just the sewing machine features of the 165E. Next week I'll cover the embroidery features.

Keeping The Price Down

In designing the 165E, Bernina cut some corners, reducing the price and making this machine available to more quilters who want embroidery features. But Bernina didn't, in any way, make an inferior product. As a matter of fact, while I was testing I'd forget I wasn't using the more elaborate model, the Artista 180.

Read my review of the Artista 180 sewing machine

To make the Artista 165E more affordable, Bernina reduced the number of stitches compared to the 180. And the 165E comes with fewer sizes of embroidery hoops than the more expensive models.

Bernina also limited the maximum stitch width to 5.5, less than the larger stitch width of the 180. This change means you can use the 1/4" piecing foot, which you can't with the wider stitch that the 180 uses.

Excellent Stitch, Some Adjusting

The 165E produces the same excellent stitch as other sewing machines in the Artista family. And like the lower end model 140, the 165E takes some adjusting to get the stitches looking good.

Read my review of the Bernina 140 sewing machine

The most frequent adjustment I had to make was the top thread tension. But the good news is that I got it set perfectly for each stitch, fabric, or thread I tested.

The Artista 165E comes from the factory set to sew 100-weight, 3-ply polyester thread. That probably explains why I had to keep changing the tension to get proper stitches.

So when you go to test-drive a 165E, take your favorite brand of cotton thread with you to make sure you like what you see. If you decide to purchase a 165E, you can have your dealer adjust the tensions, both top and bobbin, so you get a good stitch with the thread you prefer.

Setting The Tension

The 165E includes the Creative Consultant to help you set the tensions correctly. But that only allows you to set the fabric type. Most of the sewing quilters do is on cotton, so the Creative Consultant isn't much help there.

I found trying to guess at a weigh of fabric to get the stitch to look good with cotton-on-cotton was no easier than manually changing the tension. The Creative Consultant would work better for quilters if it allowed you to select the thread type.

Like its more expensive cousins, the Artista 165E lets you adjust the needle position independently from the stitch width and length. I find that feature gives more flexibility in sewing and in free motion work, both applique and quilting.

The 165E always displays the needle position on the screen so you can see the setting at a glance. I found that I always checked the position when I changed the foot, and that cut down on needle breakage. This is such a nice feature I can't figure out why other manufacturers don't offer it.

Quarter-Inch Seam Allowance

I used the #37 1/4" piecing foot to test the seam size. This foot doesn't have an edge guide, but I didn't have any trouble following the edge of the foot to get perfect 1/4" seam allowances the first and every time I tested it.

I really like the optional walking foot for machine quilting and sewing many layers together like binding. But I didn't realize at first that the walking foot assembly handles two different styles of sole plates.

One sole plate has a solid bar connecting the toes in front of the needle position. I did most of my testing with this sole plate before I discovered that the walking foot comes with an additional open-toe version.

I switched soleplates and had great results with the open-toe version, too. Since this foot sells for a little less than $100 you might want to consider buying it with your machine so you can consider it part of the cost of the machine instead of an expensive foot to buy later on.

Hand-Look Stitches

The 165E offers several hand-look quilting stitches: 6, 8, 10, and 12 inches per inch, plus a stitch that sews different size stitches. My first reaction to that, being a hand quilter as well as a machine quilter, is "Who would want that? Aren't stitches suppose to be even?"

But the different sizes alternate, so it looks even. It looks more like hand quilting than the others. My second favorite was the 6-stitches-per-inch selection.

I tried the satin stitch, the feather stitch, the blanket or buttonhole stitch, and other decorative stitches for edge finishing both fused and non-fused applique. I got all my applique stitches looking beautiful.

Lifting The Needle

One of the surprising limitations I encountered on the 165E was the lift I got using the hand lever of the presser foot lifter.

When the lever is in the up position, the needle can't be lifted any higher. Other manufacturers have that extra lift for putting embroidery hoops, thick fabric, or many layers under the foot.

But using the 165E's knee lifter causes the feed dogs to drop, giving the little extra room needed to fit embroidery hoops under the presser foot more easily. So I found that it was easier to use the knee-lifter when doing embroidery.

Since I had it set up, I used the knee lifter for part of my testing. When I first began using it, I kept trying to use it as the knee-lever for the foot pedal that comes on many of the older machines in a cabinet.

I liked the knee lifter for the extra room it gives under the needle. The drawback to using the knee lifter is that it dictates how close to the front edge of the table you have to put your sewing machine, because the knee lifter hangs over the front edge.

Sew Now, Embroider Later

The Artista 165E is a great choice for quilters who want an embroidery machine, but still want a light sewing machine to take to classes.

As a straight sewing machine, I love the flexibility and the control over my stitches. I like the quality of the machine. But the best part is that you can plug in the embroidery unit and have an embroidery machine.

Next week I'll review the Artista 165E's embroidery features.

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