ELNA STELLA AIR ELECTRONIC

The Elna Stella TSP is a retro-modern 80s update of the ever-so-cute Lotus. The white with black
accents is super stylish and less industrial looking than the matte gray of its older sibling.

Elna-Stella-TSP-011.jpg
Stella vs Lotus (on the left)

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One of the biggest changes comes from the foot control. This flying saucer like apparatus is literally a
balloon with a button on it. It's super light and compact and amazingly enough, responsive as well.
While I prefer the heft of the original foot control, it's very hard to argue with how light this thing is.
The air controller attaches via a rubber hose to the back of the machine. All of this packs neatly away
into a vinyl cover.

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Botoms Cover off
Top cover off.

The Stella sports a beefy 1 amp motor, especially for a portable. It features a top loading rotary hook
and is capable of achieving speeds north of 1100 spm. This can be toned down a bit thanks to the
electronic speed control. I absolutely love the rabbit and tortoise icons. Flip it up for more speed,
flick it down for less. Elna recommends that bobbins be wound at about 3/4 speed as indicated by a
tiny bobbin icon just a hair below the hare.
Electronic Speed Control (Down adjustment slow, up adjustment faster)
There are 8 built in stitches, four standard and four stretch plus a 4 step buttonhole.

Stitches:

Straight

Zigzag

Blind Stitch

Mulit-step Zigzag

Stretch Straight

Stretch Zigzag
Rick Rack

Honeycomb

4 step buttonhole

The stretch stitches have a fixed length and require the length dial be set to the stretch setting as
shown on the right. You still have full control of the width though.

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Stretch Stitches

Like the Lotus, the Stella requires the machine be set to zero stitch width in order to change stitch
type. Please see the Lotus review for an in-depth look at the stitch length and width dial mechanism.

The needle plate on the Stella is neatly marked and the diamond shaped quad feed dog
configuration feeds material very well. The feed dogs do not drop.
Needle Plate
Bobbin Case Setup

One of the nicest features of the Elna line is their unique bobbin case setup. There is a dial located
around 11 o'clock that sets the bobbin case tension. This convenient dial makes it super easy to
make adjustments to lower tension--a significant improvement over blindly making micro turns with
a screwdriver on just about every other machine out there. Please excuse the grime, I took this
picture prior to cleaning and it isn't even from this machine.

This particular Stella is loaded with original accessories!

Accessories

Let's round up the features shall we?

Features:

Extremely portable
Light-weight

Built in accessory tray

Removable flaps

"Impractical" free arm

Powerful 1 amp motor

Motor speed control

3 needle positions

4 step buttonhole

8 practical stitches, including stretch

Rotary hook

Reverse

4 grippy feed dogs

Compact air foot control

Accepts low shank feet

While I have yet to encounter this, I've heard of multiple accounts where the electronic circuit board
breaks down. There is really no way to fix this short of replacement and parts are scarce these days.

Overall, the Elna Stella TSP is a great machine. While the build quality isn't quite up to the original
Lotus, the new features more than make up for it.