Tag: best beginner sewing machine

Join us in meeting Dan and Karen Welch, owners and operators of McDougal Sewing Center located in Katy, Texas!

With 4,000 sq. ft. in their main store and five stores located within Jo-Ann Stores, Dan and Karen have worked hard to honor Bob McDougal’s, Dan’s grandfather’s, legacy. Striving to introduce the newest in sewing and embroidery innovation to their customers, join us below to learn more about the products, expertise, and instruction available at their shops today!

Follow along below for the transcript version of our interview with Dan and Karen Welch, owners of McDougal Sewing Center.

Hi, I’m Karen Welch with McDougall Sewing Center and I’m Dan Welch with McDougall Sewing Center as well. We’ve been in the business a long time. Why don’t you tell them the history of our business? The history of the business, my grandfather Bob McDougall, started the company in 1940. As a kid growing up I came in and messed all the machines up and I started full-time in 1976, so been in the business a few years and I worked with the family for 18 years before getting the blessing to use the biggest asset we have, which is the McDougall name, and was able to, with family support, use that name and Karen and I opened up out in Katy Texas in 1993 and we’ve been expanding and growing ever since.

She started with me full-time by 1995 so tell people I am the boss and I have her permission to say so. That’s correct, that’s correct. Basically, when we got married, we’ve been married since 1981 so 42 years, when we got married I asked if it is a prerequisite that I sew and he said oh no, well guess what, he lied. So I’ve been doing this a long time as well; so it was not my life’s work to do but it’s been a good life’s work.

When did McDougal start carrying JUKI machines?

We’ve had the JUKI’s for approximately, oh I don’t even know, about eight years, eight or nine years now. We’ve had the JUKI product and they work out of the box that’s the good thing with the JUKI product. When you open it up out of the box there’s no major or minor adjustments to be done it works out of the box.

What JUKI machines can a customer find at McDougal?

We sell the QVP series of the JUKI machine so they are sewing machines and sergers, and then, of course, we sell the eight-needle Sai and we’ve had good luck with them. They’ve been workhorses, they’ve been well received by our customers, so I think it’s been it’s been a good experience for us. And because we very seldom get complaints with JUKI and I will say that that’s one of the things that we like to promote is when you become a customer at McDougall’s and you purchase a machine from us you become a part of the McDougall family and you get what we call the McDougal advantage, and basically that’s going to be you get unlimited assistance, you get free scheduled classes, you get a one-year dealer warranty which includes a first-year free service and we’re here to support you so that’s part of it and we have authorized repair people so it’s been it’s been a good experience for us.

What benefits and extras does McDougal offer?

We do have a service technician that has been with us, he said it was 1981, so he’s been with us, the Bob McDougall company, and then with McDougall sewing center, he has been with us for 42 years so he’s our lead technician. Then we have two other technicians and they do a good job with keeping up and having the product available. We do, like Karen said, offer additional events and different programs, classes. I know we’ll take some video of different projects going on with using the machine and all the decorative stitches and all the optional accessories that are available. JUKI product is very good with coming with a full set of accessories however there’s more than one size of roll timber. For example, we stock those, there are literally a wall full of different accessories that we show you how to use and have classes, and you bring your machine in.

Our classes are hands-on, you come in and use the machine, use your machine, in our class so there isn’t any guesswork when you get home. You know how to make a quilt block using the different accessories and we have a class, where it is very popular that we repeat a lot, and it’s called foot fetish and it’s using all the accessories that comes with your machine. Rebecca Joseph, our lead educator, has been with us for four years, four or five years, since she and her husband came back from Saudi Arabia, their stent in Saudi Arabia, and she has always been in the sewing machine industry, as well her father was in the industry, and had numerous stores around the Houston metropolitan area as well.

What do you see for the future of Mcdougal?

The future of McDougall’s, Karen and I are getting up to the age where looking at you know what it would really love to be retired. However, we want to keep the family tradition going. We have two kids and they went different ways. We worked them pretty hard as kids, so they decided to go to other options. They wanted Saturday off and being in retail you just don’t get Saturdays off, you work, that’s you know most time that’s our busiest day. So the future of McDougall you know still looks bright, we have no plans of closing. We will be here to continue to support the end consumer and support our customers and employees as well.

How can customers contact McDougal Sewing Center>

There’s numerous ways that you can get in touch with us here at McDougall Sewing. We have an 800 number which is 800-FUN-2SEW we also put out a monthly flyer that has our specials for the month along with coupons you can check our website which is www.McDougalSewing.com and see all of the products that we offer, all the classes that we have, all the specials that we have, and the upcoming events. We have a lot of upcoming events, we try and do them at least two a quarter. We do have a Facebook page as well so we post pictures of all the classes that we have on our Facebook. So those are some ways that you can contact us and we would love to talk to you and have you come by and visit with us, you don’t have to buy anything you can just come say hi that’s fine we would love to have you come by!

Thank you!

To learn more about McDougal Sewing Center, visit their website here! Thank you for joining us today in getting to know Dan and Karen Welch, owners of McDougal Sewing Center. We hope you get a chance to visit the next time you’re in the area!

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Join us in meeting Dan Schoenberg, one of the owners of The Sewing Machine Shop located in the greater bay area of California!

Offering creators like you the full JUKI Line, sewing accessories, notions, and more, The Sewing Machine Shop is ready to help you find the right machine for your next dream project.

Follow along below for the transcript version of our interview with Dan Schoenberg, one of the owners of The Sewing Machine Shop.

Hi, my name is Daniel Schoenberg I’m the owner of the sewing machine shop here in Walnut Creek California. We’ve been in business for 35 years and we specialize in the sales and service of household and Industrial sewing machines. We carry a lot of related accessories and supplies like thread and needles presser feet scissors etc. and yeah that’s about it. That’s what we do; we don’t do vacuum cleaners, we don’t do alternative appliances, we’re just sewing machines only.

What Inspired You To Open The Sewing Machine Shop?

I actually started out of college; my older brother was a commercial sewing machine technician and he wanted to start a shop when I finished College. He gave me a job offer and the rest is history. We started in 1987 and have been growing ever since.

Why Do Customers Love Visiting The Sewing Machine Shop?

We have a very good reputation now built up over many years. We carry a variety of sewing machines, different brands, models, types; so everyone can come and sew on these machines and compare models with a fairly unbiased view of what we like.

What Machines Can A Customer Find At Your Shop?

When customers come here, first they’ll see that big selection of machines. We carry four different brands, and they can get machines from as little as 200 going all the way up to our top-of-the-line machines in excess of fifteen thousand dollars. We carry a lot of specialty machines; we carry long arm quilting machines like you see here on the right, and we carry embroidery machines, multi-needle, for commercial and semi-commercial use. We have a very very good staff here that are all accomplished sewers themselves so when you get a demonstration on machines you’ll be able to get a professional opinion and you’ll be able to ask all your questions that you have, all your concerns should be answered very honestly and straightforward.

What Are The Benefits Of Being A Customer?

So once a person purchases a machine from us they’ll get great service beyond the sale. We have extensive classes, usage classes to learn how to use the machine, all the way up to more advanced classes to learn how to create garments, create quilts. We have three full-time technicians here so we do a lot of servicing and repair work, including any warranty work that our customers might need, and customers can just drop in sometimes anytime for minor things like fixing a needle threader. We can diagnose the machine in front of them many times, we can get them going right away, we don’t need them to leave their machine if it’s something simple that we can fix on the spot and many times we don’t even charge any money for that

Why Did You Start Carrying JUKI Machines?

Yeah, we started carrying JUKI machines many years ago. We started even before they introduced a full domestic multi-stitch machine. So the machines we focused on with JUKI were the machines that bridge the gap between household sewing and Commercial sewing. Our most popular JUKI machine is their TL series, which they’ve had for many years, and that is a semi-industrial straight stitch only machine that can sew quite high speeds up to 15 – 1600 stitches per minute. It can take all standard, common industrial sewing machine accessories and it’s a huge seller among not only our quilting Quilters who like speed and a larger throat area, but our garment sewers, and tailors, and dressmakers, and designers as well.

What Makes The Sewing Machine Shop Unique?

I think what makes The Sewing Machine Shop unique is our staff and our people and the vast knowledge that we combine as a group. So between me and the rest of our technicians from the technical side, we’re talking about about a 100 years combined of experience working on machines, and our staff we have another, I would say another 100 years of combined sewing experience. Whether it’s quilting or garment making, or embroidery which is a big aspect of what we do, so I think the selection of the machines having five different brands that you can compare side by side combined with our staff with a vast experience is what sets us apart from other sewing machine dealers.

Having a place where you can actually try the machines before you buy the machines in a no-pressure environment is a very important thing, especially now with the internet and being able to buy so many things online and not getting to touch it, to try it, to listen to the sound of the machine, to ask all your questions in real time; I think that is what I would like to express my customers.

Come into the shop and just take a look around. Talk to our staff, just browse, sew on the machines if you want; if you don’t want to that’s okay too, see what supplies and accessories and notions we have here so the next time you’re in need of anything that has to do with sewing or sewing machines you’ll know what we offer.

How Can We Contact The Sewing Machine Shop?

thanks for listening to this video and I just invite everyone to come on down to the sewing machine shop the best way to really stay in touch with us is to go to our website sewing machine shop.com and you can sign up for our newsletter and our email on our email list um you can also follow us on Facebook but I think we’re sending out weekly informational articles promotions future classes and events so uh go to sewing machineshop.com sign up for our email list and you’ll be able to stay in touch with us

To learn more about The Sewing Machine Shop, visit their website here! Thank you for joining us today in getting to know RDan Schoenberg, one of the owners of The Sewing Machine Shop. We hope you get a chance to visit the next time you’re in the area!