[quote=annesthreads]
Originally Posted by Ladyjanedoe
Originally Posted by annesthreads
It does sometimes strike me as ironic that quilting has evolved into a hobby that can draw you into spending a lot of money on fabric annd equipment, and it can even begin to feel ESSENTIAL to spend all that money in order to do it properly, when its roots are in times when everything had to be treasured and used because people had so little. I've called a halt on stash building and am beginning to think of other ways of finding fabric and other supplies. Do I really need a 2000 dollar machine for quilting, or might an old Singer do the job? Look at the creativity that came out of earlier hard times in the form of wonderful vintage quilts!
I whole heartly agree. I have always said that you do not have to have the most expensive machine to sew with.
It's dawned on me slowly! I've spent months looking at machines for free motion quilting, longing for one that will do the job better than my present one, but terrified of spending what for me is a very significant amount of money and maybe finding that it didn't live up to its promises. So, having already bought a Featherweight which is absolute bliss for piecing, I'm now thinking about a larger Singer to deal with the quilting. There don't seem to be as many available here in the UK as in the States, but I'm on the hunt! It would be SO satisfying if I could solve the FMQ problem without spending all that money.
I have a Brother sewing machine, it is not computerised and has very few stitches on it, and it cost me about £250. I do all my sewing on it, and it does everything I need. I mostly hand quilt, except when I am doing childrens quilts, which I do very plain machine quilting.One of my group has a Bernina top of the range which she paid £3000 for, but I would never use any of the fancy stitches, although it does have such things as the needle down position which I think is good, but I manage well without it. I also have a very simple Singer which I can turn to, if neccesary.