Originally Posted by
Neesie
I'm not trying to defend the manufacturers; I'm just saying how businesses usually work. Please don't fuss at me, for saying this!
Businesses need to make a good profit, to stay in business. Designing and manufacturing any new product, is very costly. In order for a new production to be worthwhile to the business, it must cater to a HUGE market and produce a HUGE profit. Needless to say, businesses like to steer as many customers as possible, to their higher price items. There IS a huge market for machines with longer throats BUT a good percentage will bite the bullet and pay the higher price, if there's no other way. IF a simpler, less expensive machine were produced, many would still want the bells and whistles BUT a good percentage would probably buy the less expensive machine. . . which means less profit, for the company.
Needless to say, the best business to produce the simple long-throat, inexpensive machine, would be one which doesn't already produce a bunch with bells & whistles. That way, it wouldn't be competing against itself. Perhaps quilters should start petitioning the smaller companies, to produce this machine.
I hope my rambling makes sense, as I sometimes have trouble explaining my thoughts.
Neesie, all this assumes that the profit margin is less on a simpler machine, which would not necessarily be the case if it has fewer parts, less labor and much less likelihood of coming in for warranty repair. Already the major companies do offer simpler and much less expensive machines. They're just not making them with the specific features that quilters would go for, and besides, I think a lot of us would still want the fancy machine in addition to one that's more useful for quilting.
I'm just curious to know if anyone has done a customer survey to find out what percentage of people who sew are making quilts.
Still, the question that nags at me is why anyone who wants a nice, big throat area and a straight stitch would even care whether modern plastic machines are available for this purpose. Singer and other companies made literally hundreds of thousands of machines that meet this need, and you'd be surprised to see how many of them are still working. They were made before someone dreamed up the concept of planned obsolescence. If a machine like my 201-2 is still running well after more than 70 years, you know there is almost nothing that could happen to it that would put it out of commission as long as it's not left out in the rain or dropped out a 3rd story window onto concrete. Even the motor is a pretty simple design that can be repaired or replaced if need be. It has a drop feed, and the throat is almost 8" by 5.25" tall. You won't find anything that makes a better stitch. And bonus: when the unknowing see that black thing in your house they assume it's an antique just to look at and they're less likely to ask you to hem their shorts. I paid $100 for it and it has a beautiful solid wood art deco cabinet and came with several attachments in addition to the basic feet, a zig-zagger and buttonholer and some old pinking sheers. I thought the wiring was a little iffy, so I bought a new power cord for about $16. I keep it oiled and put fresh grease in the motor, and it's already seen quite a bit of use in the 7 months I've owned it.
I guess what it boils down to is that there may be a lot of us who would rather not buy a new machine for quilting unless it had a bigger throat area than this, needle down, drop feed, direct drive and metal gears, and maybe a needle threader. A girl can dream!