Originally Posted by
quiltingcandy
What do you want the machine to do? My sister bought the "quilting" Brother machine from Costco about 20 years ago and it is still going strong. Also, if you have some dealers near you, maybe you can buy a refurbished machine with a limited warranty and a class or two thrown in.
I don't need anything fancy. I just want something to piece and FMQ but have no budget for any of the machines with "quilting" in the name. I found that some of those low end machines have fixed stitch width (zig-zag not adjustable) and I probably don't want that...
I know my expectations (especially in terms of stitch quality, durability and low maintenance) are probably too high for a cheap machine as whenever I'm near my mom (which lives on another continent at the moment), she lets me use her vintage Bernina 830 and THAT's just my absolute dream machine!
Buying refurbished is not possible here, so I'd need to go for one of the new ones available.