Skip to content

I confess, this is a little more modern a machine than I normally review. What happened is I bought a Viking 120 from an Ebay seller. He didn’t pack it that well (crumpled newspaper will NOT stop a 20 pound sewing machine when UPS drops the package) and it arrived pretty damaged. When I talked to the seller, he proposed that I keep the machine and that he would send me an Elna 2002 that he was preparing to auction as a replacement. I felt that was a fair offer … and I ended up with an Elna 2002!

Once bonus of it still being a fairly new machine is that it’s easy to find information about it — here’re the technical specs from the Elna website:

  • 9 stitches including a classic buttonhole.
  • Stitches displayed on front of machine at eye level.
  • Dial stitch selector.
  • 0-4mm stitch length.
  • 0-5mm stitch width.
  • Decenter the needle.
  • Strong needle penetration, even on heavy fabrics.
  • Free arm makes for easy sewing on difficult areas such as shirt cuffs.
  • Removable accessory box.
  • Built-in handle for portability.
  • Built-in bobbin winder.
  • 2 retractable spool pins.
  • Snap-on feet.
  • Oscillating bobbin.
  • Thread cutter incorporated on left of casing.
  • 3 presser feet included with the machine.
  • Impressive selection of optional accessory feet and attachments.
  • Circular sewing capability.
  • Optional elastic gatherer.

This is a plastic case machine, so it’s fairly light. I don’t know if it comes with a carrying case, but it does have this neat little handle to make it tote-friendly.

Is does have a slide-on accessory bed — which is missing on mine. I also didn’t get a machine foot when I received the machine. I bought a generic snap-on zig-zag foot at JoAnn’s and it fit just fine.

Here’s a quick view from the side — no surprises. Handwheel with a needle-bar disengaging knob in the middle (you disengage it when you wind a bobbin), socket near the bottom for the power cord, and the off-on switch.

I like having an off-on switch. I have not found a separate on-off switch for the light — when the machine is on, the light is on.

A quick view from the top — the bobbin winding gear is all on top of the machine. The snap-lever near the bobbin winding spindle pushes in when you begin winding; when the bobbin fills, it’ll press the lever and stop the winding.

Bobbin winding follows the usual suspects. If you’d like more information, you can do a Google search for “elna 2002 manual” — you can download a copy of the manual. I’ve also got a copy here in PDF format. I did not see a copyright notice in the manual, so I believe it’s okay to make it available here. If you know otherwise, would you let me know?

Here’re the bobbin works — just flip the door on the free-arm. Works pretty much like you woudl expect.

I wasn’t paying attention when I removed the bobbin — I also flipped the levers to remove the bobbin case. When I went to put it back in, I put it in backwards. It almost — but not quite — fit! You want the two “bumps” to be facing you, not facing towards the inside of the machine. The manual will have a lot more information.

The two bumps are stops for the bobbin case securing levers (the little black levers at the 4:00 o’clock and 8:00 o’clock positions).

The stitch selector runs across the top of the machine. There’s a 4 step buttonhole (with 3 steps), plus several straight and zig-zag selections. You can adjust the stitch width, needle position, and stitch length.

There’s also a reverse feed lever on the tower portion of the machine. Press it down to feed in reverse to lock in the beginning and end of stitches.

Here are some samples of stitches produced with the Elna 2002. A couple of straight stitches using different needle positions, a number of zig-zags and variants, plus a buttonhole. The buttonhole is a little “lumpy”, but that’s more because of me than because of the machine.

All in all, I’m pretty pleased with this machine. I haven’t torture tested it yet, but it seems pretty capable of a simple and clean stitch. Fairly quiet in operation and it’s reasonably attractive for a recent mechanical machine.

My price (free!) couldn’t be beat — but I’ve seen these models go for less than $100. Might be worth a think if you find one!