I bought this machine a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving. I had literally sold my home and was moving. I didn't really begin to use it until January (Move + Holidays, etc.)
I'm working on three quilts concurrently, and I sew an hour or two daily after work, and in this nasty Pacific NW winter weather, my Saturday & Sunday is usually dedicated to quilting. (Yeah, I'm single, and my kids are grown lol) This machine was a graduation for me. I've sewn for years, but hadn't touched a machine until a couple of years ago, a friend suggested I learn to quilt as a mechanism for dealing w/stress. I'd bought a little 189.00 Brother Laura Ashley machine on Amazon, made a queen sized quilt, and was hooked. I knew I needed more throat space if I was going to continue quilting.
After building a spreadsheet, and listing all the needs/wants, I looked at every machine out there. Elna, Bernina, Pfaff, Brother, Viking... I spent time in the sewing shops testing all of them. I spent hours on the mfg websites reading details, read forums, googled pros/cons of each brand. By the end of 2 months of research, the Continental was clearly the winner.
Stitches are like silk. I see many complain about "wonky stitches" - those are the stitches, and purposely designed this way to emulate hand stitching. I don't find the heirloom stitches to be "wonky", but that's just me. All other stitches flow like butter.
I paid 5999.99 for my machine. I received several Kim Einman(sp?) rulers, her BOM pattern and one of her jelly rolls, along with a rolling bag in addition to the machine. This "bonus" package was not a big deal (IMHO). I'm not one to ever turn down more quilt rulers... LOL The BOM wasn't anything awe -inspiring, and the jelly roll pack came in handy for another quilt, so I did ok there.
I'm just saying this "Bonus" package wasn't something that would be a deal breaker. The design of the rolling bag is poor b/c of the handle placement. THe bag itself is fine, but that handle placement was just plain . Imagine a rectangle, and the pull handle is on the narrow end - which means it'd be easy to topple the cart because this is a LARGE machine.Furthermore, there's I'm hauling this machine back/forth to the shop for "lessons". LOL I am risking my investment like that.
After I moved, I found a local sewing shop, and he sells the same package (machine/pkg) for 5k - too bad I didn't know about this vendor! LOL (If you're interested and in North Seattle area - lemme know, I will provide the name. Wonderful folks)
- The machine is quiet. Like "I can sew in the LR and not bother others who are watching TV kind of quiet. Quiet like "doesn't wake someone sleeping in the chair 8' away" quiet.
- The bobbin winder is dreamy and fast.
- I love the alert that tells me my bobbin is low!
- There's not enough internet bandwidth to handle my unending praise, awe, and compliments about the acres of workspace! OMWORD - there's ..!
- The lighting in the work area is absolutely incredible!
- I can wind a bobbin w/o un-threading my machine.
- She can sew at crazy high speeds, but I keep it in the middle setting for quilting/piecing. High speed is awesome for garment sewing.
- The needle plates are fabulous! No more tips of HST tips being punched down into the bobbin area. The plates pop up for easy switching.
- The needle threader works - every time, and ohhh does it work !
- I like the placement of the LCD screen, it's right in front of me and easy to see and a simple easy to read layout..
- The quilting stitches available are pretty darn cool - I can put my 1/4" foot on, select quilting stitches and then select the preset for a 1/4" seam and I am 100% on target for a 1/4" seam.
- This machine is SOLID and Larrrrrrrge.
- Quilting on this has been amazing - that throat is divine.
- Nice spiral bound user manual
- of extra feet included (yay!)
- Built in thread arm (this is very nice - spools/cones sit upright)
Because I plan to move cross country by year's end, I wasn't going to invest in an expensive cabinet - but I needed something large enough because, it's a pretty good sized machine. I went to Home Depot, and purchased a HUSKY brand height-adjustable work bench. The bench/table is 47" wide, has two nice ball bearing track drawers (the nice ones like in a fancy rolling tool box). The base is white, the top is a thick butcher block - AND - has a hand crank that will raise the table from 29" to 43". The caster rollers (incl.) are great, so I can move the table if needed, and do so easily - even on carpet. If I used the optional stationary feet (also included) I believe that would change the table height to a range of 26-40". Assembled myself in about 30 minutes, looks nice and neat in my sewing area (i.e. not like it's a garage piece in the house) and it's VERY solid.
If you decide to take the jump, just know you're NOT going to have to pay 8k. Careful shopping, and you can find the machine for 5k. It's very easy to use - the spiral bound manual is pretty darn comprehensive.