Just wondering. If you went from and older mechanical machine to a new computerized one, did your quilting drastically improve? Or if you just upgraded to a really nice machine, did you drastically improve? Was your new machine transformational? If so, why do you think?

It was huge for me to go from quilting on my "regular" machine to one that is on a frame. HUGE.

I quilt now on domestic machine, it is a Viking Mega Quilter so it has a 9 in. throat and it is fairly easy. Getting a frame for it next week so I don't know. I'm hoping it will make it easier and bypass all that pinning and basting once it is on the frame. I know there will be a learning curve. I have a couple of tops I finished years ago lined up to be practice models.
Rebecca VLQ, can I ask what you mean by HUGE. Was it harder, easier, did it take long to learn, etc. I am excited to get my frame, but really don't know what is involved.

Yes! Finally got a Pfaff and I can't believe what a HUGE difference it made to have that IDT. My quilting is much better, more even and way easier to do.

Like me, I bet alot of you do one step at a time.
It costs more in the long run when you try plastic tables, sliders, halos, new computer machine with large throat, etc.
I am now going into the long arm set up with no long arm just a strait stitch. Money is the bottom line.
It would have been cheaper to just get a long arm to begin with but few have the funds to do that.
The long arm machine is way over my budget so will contend with a straight stitch with a 9 inch throat.
Nothing compares with a long arm.

My old and new machines all have their own special features/qualitites. I use them all, and it has improved my quilting. :D:D:D

I had an old, small Singer and went to a Janome 6600. My FMQ is improving all the time. I love having the larger throat, love the "needle down" button, and it's much easier to regulate the sewing speed now. If finances allowed, I'd have a longarm, but that's not in the picture for me.

Yes. I can make big quilts now without having to move heavy fabric bits. Also, no more spray adhesive!

It wasn't so much going from mechanical to computerized, as going from crappy to quality. I went from a 1990's basic Singer (junk) to a Baby Lock Quest Plus. Immediately, the accuracy of my piecing improved. I was then able to start machine quilting, something that Singer never did decently. I'm still very new to machine quilting, but I've added Berninas old and new and found that I enjoy machine sewing more than ever before. I now look for opportunities to incorporate deco stitches into projects and am starting to use the machine for appliqué and quilting, which I used to do exclusively by hand.

Absolutely!