kaymc

I have been using a Pfaff Quilt Expression 2046 for a long time but have needed to put a lot of money into repairs lately. I am looking at a Brother but not sure about it. I am looking at 2 models the Brother VQ300 Dreamweaver Sew Quilting machine and the Brother PQ157S straight stitch sew quilt machine. I am also thinking about the newest Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2. I do a lot of piecing and machine quilting but not enough to spend the bucks for a long arm. Any help and opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Dolphyngyrl

My vote would be the VQ3000 over the PQ1500s model as it is very much designed for a quilter, it has the 11inch harp, it has the adjustable dual feed foot, much better than a walking foot or IDT IMHO, it has the sew straight laser, great for 1/4 inch seams, half square triangle, etc. the pen pal allow you to stop on point great for binding. I have the embroidery combo, and it has been just wonderful to sew on, and sews through thick layers flawlessly. great for bags as well

Yarn or Fabric

I think it depends on your budget to be honest with you. When I was in the market for a new machine I wanted to spend no more than $5k on a sit down quilt machine. I ended up with the Tin Lizzie sit down with the 18" harp and a Juki 2000 and I had a bit of cash left over. I don't regret getting the bigger machine for quilting. I've quilted 2 big king sizes in the past year (and about to quilt my 3rd) and it's heavenly to not have to worry about all that fabric to the right of the needle. I wasn't able to get a firm idea of how much the VQ3000 was. I saw a listing for it on Ebay for $4k so I'm assuming that's in the ball park... There are other sit down machines that are less expensive than the Lizzie - and Juki is coming out with one soon. There's a few others out there including the Bailey ($3k with table included for a 17" harp) which I probably would have bought had the table been available at the time. That would have saved me a lot of money... and there's the Sunshine 16 and one other that I'm forgetting - these are all cheaper than the HQ sit down model and others like the George which is considerably more expensive than the HQ... so if you were thinking of spending about $4k I guess I'm saying that you do have some big options.

I also love my Juki. I'm a speed demon when it comes to piecing now. I swear I get more pieced faster than I did when I was using my Janome. Once I got used to the speed I was unstoppable. The Brother straight stitch machine goes just as fast as the Juki and I can sew through an ungodly amount of fabric layers at once. My record is 18 without even the machine complaining. It was like, bring it on!!

You'll have to decide what is best for you. If you have a dealer nearby you should go and sew on them before you buy anything. This way you can compare and not wonder what it...

cathyvv

I've had 4 different models of Brother machines. One broke when it was dropped while we were travelling. It was 6 years old and had gone through a lot of rough handling by me and a couple of 'grands'. I was sorry to see it broken. Replaced it with another Brother se-350 which has an embroidery attachment. Haven't used the attachment, but am very satisfied with it. Then I purchased a Brother sewing/quilting machine with a slightly larger throat - love them both and use them both, but in different rooms. I also have a very low end Brother mechanical that works like a champ. In fact, I've been using it over the holidays while we visit in NJ; it does what I want to do and gives no problems.

All my Brother machines are low end, but work so well that I can't ask for more. I also LOVE their User guides, as they are very thorough. I used to be in IT and wrote user guides, so I know a good user guide when I see one.

I guess you figured out that I would recommend a Brother machine to you. Which model to choose must be your decision based on how much versatility you want in your new sewing machine.

Good luck!

AliKat

I am definitely a Pfaff person because of the IDT,

Otherwise, look at your budget, what you really want, what each machine offers, local support, and if you take it for retreats or sew-ins can you carry it without difficulty. Try each out and see which you bond with the most - which one yuo don't have to go back to the manual to see how to work it because it is intuitive to your way of thinking.

I had a Brother which I di use for trade in on a Pfaff because the Brother was way too heavy and all the weight was on one side so I had great difficulty lifting it.

bigredharley

Look at Baby Lock too. It's a Brother product but seems to offer more at a lower price point. I had the Crescendo which was amazing and eventually traded up to the Unity which does both sewing and embroidery. It's not thread fussy, and not a minute's problem with either.