Originally Posted by
Lv2sew2011
Hi Sherry, how do you like the Tiara. I'm trying to get my hubby to buy me one. But he hasn't said yes yet and did you buy the one with the table? Just wondering is worth the money?
Hi! Yes I do like my Tiara. I bought it last September while it was on a 'special sale'. I am only on my 4th or 5th quilt on it, so I am in learning mode, but I have been free motion machine quilting queen and king sized quilts on my Bernina 440 for many years so it is much the same but with WAY more harp room, so my learning curve might be different than starting from no FMQ knowledge. I like not having my sewing machine tied up while quilting a big quilt. Probably my biggest learning item so far has been the tension adjustments - I mostly have never messed with bobbin tension on my Berninas - but this one STARTS with changing the bobbin tension first, but I think I figured it out now - and found bobbin thread that Tiara likes. I did get the white sit down table - I just don't have room for a big frame and since I was used to quilting on a small sewing machine, a sit down seemed like a good choice. I like the position of the machine all in front of me instead of to my right. Another thing - I always used my BSR (stitch regulator) on my Bernina - I haven't even opened the package of the stitch regulator for the Tiara ($1K) - I really haven't felt like I needed it. It came with the package I bought for my Tiara....not sure I will ever need that - so if you look at one and it doesn't come with the package, and you decide that you need a regulator you could always add it later. I also didn't get the side 'wings' for the table @ $90 each and I needed something, the table isn't wide enough to support a big quilt, so I set up my ironing board to table height, it works awesome for me. I am going to go to garage sales or Goodwill and buy another ironing board for a couple of bucks for the other side. Oh yeah - I have also been able to do some ruler work with it and that has been a lot of fun and something I couldn't do on my Bernina. Make sure you try a couple of different ones out!! My husband is glad that I finally settled on this (I had been looking for a while) and always reminds me that he has different saws and drills for different applications - kinda the same LOL!