Originally Posted by
MadQuilter
I have seen lots of bad comments on the Singer machine recently.
Originally Posted by
nancia
d'sm-- i have the brother se400. right now i'm using it while waiting to take my big brother in for his yearly check up. ... anyway, i am really happy with my brothers. i have the gray singer heavy duty and i could only make it do straight lines (coulda been me, it was early in the game.) it's a work horse but not much to write home about. ...Be sure to get the se400 at a store that services them. i've heard the big box version is all spaghetti inside....On the other hand, i have 3 fw's and 2 are working great.... that's my input. just thought you would like to know.
Thank you for the input ladies. I've been talking to everyone I could get my hands on about this, and reading all the reviews and comments on them that I could find. There's a lot of comments all over saying Singer isn't what it used to be. The upside is that it's still got a metal chassis, where a lot of brands are now plastic. In the past, I never would have imagined considering buying anything Brother again. I've had a few Brother printers in my time, both for personal and professional use, and usually wanted to throw them out the window in the path of a speeding train.
There is a Brother dealer locally, but I'm not sure if I can make myself buy from him. It's the shop where I get my machine repaired, and it doesn't matter what you go in there for, including my trip to buy buttons I needed to match some the man lost off his sport coat, they try to force an embroidery machine down your throat every time you walk in the door. They aren't in the quilting business at all, and don't carry enough quilting materials to say so. The next closest is 40 miles away, just across the Georgia line, not too far from my best friend's house. Apparently there's a Husqvarna dealer here too that I didn't know about until yesterday. I may have to check their machines out in person too. My old Kenmore & I have been many miles together over the last 22 years.
Originally Posted by
MadQuilter
As for the safari patches - I'd have to go shopping for those too. Have you checked Keepsakequilting.com?
I've not started looking yet. I asked her to find out which of the wall decals they were buying first, since the set she showed me comes in 11 variations. If she's doing the pastels, I thought I might do better to go with the pastel background animal prints, but if she's going with the bold colors, I'll stick to the traditional ones. I have a Keepsake catalog, but intentionally haven't cracked it yet, trying to behave. I'll likely make a trip to Joann (45 min away) & see what they have first, since it's about time for my quarterly trip to that area anyway. I rarely buy fabric online. I'm one of those who likes to touch it first so I know what I'm getting, unless it's a print I have to have. I will be making a car seat quilt out of leftovers of a jelly roll of Moda "Jungle Bungle" for her too. I know where to go if I can't find what I want though! I live in a quilting wasteland. The nearest LQS went out of business after first of the year when the owners retired, and that was 40 miles away, in the opposite direction of the Brother dealer mentioned above. It's a Husqvarna dealer now.