Originally Posted by
DonnaC
Leta, I have a Viking Designer I that was given to me by a dear friend a year or so ago, and I love it for embroidery! I bought a new 3.5" floppy disk drive from Amazon and some discs, and I was off and running! I know there are plenty of things the newfangled machines can do, but I'm happy with this one.
DonnaC, I love mine too!! There is some very inexpensive software online, Embird, (
https://www.embird.net/ ) that will allow you to "convert" ANY embroidery design and write it to your floppy disks - that has been WONDERFUL to allow me to buy the newest designs and be able to stitch them out. If you buy it and need help, just PM me. ( and I have NO affiliation with Embird, other than being a very satisfied customer.)
Viking is VERY good at continuing to offer new feet that will work even with these older machines. I just found out the other day that Viking has a "special bobbin case" to use for "bobbin work" - and yes, it fits our machines!! I'm going to have to get that!!
If your gifted machine does not have the 1/4" foot - it has a little "edge" that the fabric butts against - that is probably the #1 foot I would recommend getting for accurate piecing. The only thing I would change is have it accept a bigger hoop system - there are some embroidery designs that I would really like to stitch, but the size would require that I re-hoop - which is NOT something I'm adept at.
I really do like Viking products - my longarm is a Viking too.