I'd never heard of Bernina until I moved to a little bitty town in South Carolina and needed a new sewing machine ASAP. The only machine dealer within 70 miles was the local quilt shop that sold Berninas. I still have my Bernina, have had it 20 years so far, its a great machine.
I own several brands of sewing machines, with different bobbin systems. Some have the separate bobbin cases under the machine(class 15),others have a drop-in top loading bobbin. For FMQ (free motion quilting), I like the class 15 bobbin system; its easier to get consistent stitches.
I have a Viking Sapphire 875 that I finally learned to use for FMQ, it had a learning curve; this one has the drop-in top loading bobbin and tends to be fussy when it comes to threads. Most of my machines that I use for FMQ have the class 15 bobbin and don't seem to be picky about what threads I use.
This is just my experience and what works for me. My other machines are vintage Singer treadles,a Pfaff treadle and 2 electric Berninas and 1 Pfaff 1222E; all are mechanical, only the Sapphire is computerized.
Sharon W.
Last edited by purplefiend; 08-21-2012 at 06:12 PM.