I am looking into investing in a new machine and it's come down to either a Bernina or a Pfaff.

I LOVE the Bernina Aurora 440QE, but I'd probably start with the Activa 240.
And I've looked at the Pfaff 2048, but there is a 2056 for sale on Craig's List.

I'd love to hear from people that have used both, and from those that have good things to say about their own machine.

Thanks!

My friend is selling a Pfaff see under classified.
I have had a Bernina for over 15 years and works like a charm. I have had no problem with it. Love love my Bernina. I have friends that have Pfaff's and Bernina's and both are in love with their machines!!!
Depends what features you want and how much you are willing to spend!!!
Good luck and let us know what you decided to buy!!!

Bebe

I have had a Bernina for three years which has many fancy stitches, a stitch regulator and does embroidery-- All features which I really haven't used as much as I thought I would.
I also have a new (1 year old) Pfaff 2036 which I use all the time for piecing and stitch in the ditch type sewing. I had made the mistake of trading in a not very old Pfaff which I really liked. In addition to the IDT, it had upper and lower case alphabets that were great for making quilt labels, and I miss that.
They are both quality machines so it depends on what uses you need it for.
My main advice would be to sew on each BEFORE you buy. Good Luck, and enjoy whatever machine you get!!

I own a Brother for ME which I bought for machine emb...now it is my only machine
I also had a Husq/Viking for quilting which I sold. Which was a really good machine...
If I had my druthers I would go with a Bernina or a Husk/Viking (if I had the money) that would allow me to do ME and quilting and plain sewing...
I like my Brother, don't like the built in Disney designs...
Just my 02 stitches...
Kirsten

I bought a used Bernina Bernette 2 years ago, and I love it. That little tiny bernette is all I have to quilt with, and I am proud of that little thing. It is a honey. I machine qulted that huge king sized black and white trip around the world with it. If and when I graduate to a larger machine, you better believe I will get another Bernina.

I have an older Bernina with lots of bells and whistles and I love it. I don't use all that it offers, but maybe I will some day. I have never had one bit of trouble with it. But.... I have never tried a Pfaff.

When I was looking for an embroidery machine, I checked out this site http://sewing.patternreview.com/SewingMachine/Reviews and read about what people thought about a machine. It really helped by ruling out several models that had bad reviews.

Mary

Hi there, Well if I could have afforded it I would have gone for a Bernina, as it was I got a Brother Innovis 1200, which has an embroidery feature and loads of stitches including quilting ones. Have to say I am very pleased with it and I went for an A-Grade machine which is a total reconditioned practically new machine and saved 400 GBP (thats UK Pounds).
Good luck with the purchase. :D Elle

I am the proud owner of a pfaff tiptronic and a bernina QE.

I find that I prefer the pfaff for piecing quilt tops. You can not beat the dual feed feature on the pfaff. When I use any other machine I find my blocks never got together as nicely as they do on the pfaff!

I love the bernina for quilting! You can't beat that stitch regulator when your doing free motion quilting. It is amazing!

Both machines will do you proud which ever one you decide upon. Try them both before you buy, if you can.

Thanks for the link, Mary. The Pfaff 2058 that I was considering had more than a few negative reviews.

I am going to take this process slow, even though I am very excited to get a new machine. It's quite a bit of money to drop on a hobby all at once (not to mention the fabric :P ), so I want to be sure that I've made the best choice for me.

Thanks to everyone else as well for your input.