Get the brother 1500. It is a wonderful machine. If you need fancy stitches, but a cheapie Brother from Walmart. The cheapie Brother from Walmart will have all the fancy stitches you need and will be easy to carry around for classes. The 1500 will sew through anything you can think of and will let you quilt king sized quilts. You will be able to buy both for well under you budget and have money left for other quilty things.
P.S. The screw on your other machine is easily replaced. I know because I have a habit of dropping them into unknown places!!
Last edited by Lisa_wanna_b_quilter; 05-23-2013 at 06:49 AM.