Originally Posted by
JackieQuilts
I have sewn for years, am making my first quilt. I have a Bernina 220 which is fantastic for piecing and regular sewing, however, it's too light-weight to quilt on. Stuffing the bulky quilt through the small throat is driving me crazy, plus the feed dogs don't seem strong enough to push the quilt layers through the machine evenly and decorative stitches are skipping or bunching up in knots. My husband offered the idea of a heavy duty machine, but I do want decorative stitches. I have a 2000.00 budget. What make and model would you recommend? I'm fine with a used machine too. Thank you!
Jackie
I have a Bernina 430 which is heavy duty and you can sometimes find the Bernina 430 or Bernina 440 on ebay for less than $2000. However, this summer I bought a Pfaff Ambition Essential and I love it. It has a built in walking foot and it has a bigger throat space than my Bernina. So you might want to take a look at the Pfaff sewing machines if you are concerned with having a large throat size.