Bernina Artista 830

by Mary Abbott
(Townsend TN)

Among the tools and toys for my old age that I recenlty bought with my inheritance were three top-of-the-line embroidery machines, including a Bernina Artista 830.

It is an awesome sewing machine. It can do almost anything a home sewing machine can do. I still have not mastered all its capabilities, but some of its desirable features include powerful in-the-machine embroidery editing tools, beautiful and practical built-in sewing stitches, a stitch regulator that makes it much easier to do machine quilting with even stitches, huge bobbins, and presser feet for every imaginable sewing task.

The Bernina Artista 830 sews beautifully and has the features that make basic sewing easier like automatic presser foot lifting and lowering, push-button thread cutting, and really good lighting. The built-in embroidery designs include Diane Gaudinski quilting designs, several fonts for lettering that can be enlarged to the limits of your embroidery hoop, and many decorative designs.

The other embroidery machines I have allow an embroidery design to be enlarged or reduced only 20% with the editing tools built into the machine because they can't adjust the stitch density. I have enlarged designs up to 250% with the Bernina Artista 830, and they stitched out beautifully.

When you first enlarge a design, it looks ragged on the computer screen because it just enlarges each stitch, and then the edges smooth out as the computer adjusts the stitch density. The computer functions for combining, resizing, rotating, mirror-imaging, and repositioning designs are easy to learn and use.

Some of the built-in decorative stitches are beautiful. The display on the screen shows you exactly what part of the design the computer is stitching. You can mirror-image and edit the stitches in many ways. If you don't see one you like, you can design your own.

The manufacturer's web site offers lots of hints and directions for projects.

Some disadvantages: The Bernina Artista 830 sewing machine is the biggest and heaviest of the machines I bought; it must weigh 40 pounds, and some of the women who come to the classes that my dealer offers need help to get it out of their cars. Like most of these large machines, it is best carried in a case on a little hand truck.

The case for this machine is so tightly fitted that it's hard to get the machine into it. The first time I packed it into the case, I broke the touch screen on the computer before I had even plugged it in the first time; fortunately my dealer talked Bernina into offering a good deal on a replacement. And not only is it hard to get the machine into the case, but there's no room to pack the accessory case, the foot control, the detachable thread stand, or anything else you might want to take to a class.

Although it is easy to use in its way, it's different from most other machines in some basic operations. I had trouble getting the hang of threading it; without the help of the classes my dealer offers, I might never have gotten it. Don't buy the Bernina Artista 830 machine without good dealer support. It's also pricier than the top-of-the-line offerings from other brands.

I'll be able to give a better review of the Bernina Artista 830 sewing machine and have a better idea of its reliability after I have used it and my other machines for a few months.