It is a start. Many of us here are working with a 9" machine. That frame alone sells for $999. One way to look at it is, you can find out if you like using a frame, then if you do, you can upgrade to something like the BHQ later and still be able to use your frame with it. Then you could either sell the Janome 1600, or use it for piecing. I'm using my Brother 1300 for piecing most of the time because I prefer the space, rather than using my smaller machine that has the fancy stitches.