I got a new toy yesterday....a Brother DreamMaker V2200 embroidery only machine. I already have a Janome sewing/embroidery combo, but this one has a larger embroidery field and many more bells and whistles.

Just recently purchased a Designer SE from a friend who had used it less than 100 hours. Learning has been fun. Made pillowcases for all the grandchildren with their names monogrammed on the cuff. Used the pillowcase pattern than has all seams enclosed. Lots of fun and "ooohs"

Here are two of the pillow cases that I did for the [ATTACH=CONFIG]386268[/ATTACH]GKs with my Husqvarna Desiner SE.

My cousin is interested in purchasing a new quilting / embroidery machine. I think that sewing and quilting will be the primary function, but she also wants to be able to do embroidery. Of course, she would also need software to use with it. She asked me to give her some advice as to what to purchase and we need to find her something that is under $1000 complete with software. I have an older Pfaff (a 7570) with Pfaff software and also use Embird for design work, and haven't looked at any of the new machines out there is several years, so I am at a loss as to advice.

I am looking to my QB friends for suggestions for a quilting/embroidery machine including software for under $1000? Can any of you make some suggestions or lead me to a site that can help? Thanks!

Maybe she'll be lucky enough to find a used machine with software. Does she want to digitize her own designs? Because there is all sorts of free software for resizing, converting format, etc. If she gets a machine with a USB port, (most of today's machines now have them) she can d/l designs from the internet and take them to the machine on a flash drive.

If the machine is going to be used primarily for sewing and quilting, prioritize the features for those activities. Then consider the embroidery features such as hoop size. I would want a machine with a larger bed for quilting. I did not realize that I should have thought of that until after i purchased my machine..but that was almost 7 years ago and models have evolved.

Did you also mention to her the $$$ she will spend for thread and stabilzer?? Machine Embroidery is not cheap. I would advise her to start saving for the machine she wants. 1000$ is about the starting point for a decent machine PLUS the cost of software. She should start looking for machines that have been traded in and serviced by a dealer. But she should do her homework on which machine(s) she is interested in buying. My 2 cents.

It is one thing to ask for machine recommendations but ultimately she needs to research machines, test drive them etc.
Sandy

Agree with above..It's an expensive hobby. She may also want to wait for "Open Box" sales at her local shops. That's how I bought my Designer SE which normally went for 7500 but I lucked out with Open Box machine that had very little time on it and only used at shows. So it ended up being 4500 but by the time I got out of there with threads, stablizer, snip scissors etc...Might as well said it cost me full price...
Also really be sure as to how much your going to use it. I decided to buy a cheap machine first to see if I liked it and would use it...Well the cheapest Viking sold a few yrs back was 800 with the ability of only using a 4x4 hoop...4 mths later I upgraded to the SE.
I still use the cheap...HA HA machine but if I'd done my homework and really put some thought into it I'd never would have it.
Another thing is make sure whatever machine she buys it can be upgraded to other computer models...My cheap machine will only operate thru XP so if my old computer which houses the software to run that machine ever goes Bye Bye so does the emb machine...it will not run off all the new computer upgrades...Who Knew...Things you find out after the fact...Now I know the questions to ask.

hobbycat..does not Viking do patches for the newer Windows operating systems? I know that Brother does. Have you done a viking site search? As you do, I use XP for my Brother software--but I know they have patches for older software so that it will run with Vista, 7, and maybe the newest "windows". Anyhow, I love the features of XP, and if it ever becomes extinct (ie..no support) I will just take it off line and continue with my embroidery programs.

I have ck with Viking Store and they told me no updates for this model which I'm thinking was discontinued...But now that you've said that I might send off an email to Husq directly and see if store was incorrect...Thanks..

I have a Viking SE and 4D Embroidery software. It's smarter than I am. I just can't seem to get my head around machine embroidery! So, I'll be interested in hearing about any hints everyone has.