Greetings from AZ
 

Greetings from Arizona. I just joined this site this morning. I started quilting about 8 years ago mostly as a fluke (I'm a man), but I really liked it. I liken quilting to wood working with cloth. A sewing machine just makes less noise and dust than a table saw. I've made only 4 quilts, but that was mostly the first ~3 years. I like doing embroidery in quilting. There was a phase that it was hard to make the time for quilting, but I have more time again now and want to get back into it. My wife is also getting into quilting more and she has a background of a garment making, so she knows a lot about sewing.

We have a Designer I and are thinking of upgrading to a newer machine as we've been havings issues with it which is so frustrating and making me/us not want to use it. We looked at the newer Vikings (again...) and Bernina machines. Then I found info on Babylock and we went to look at those. Then I saw an add for Brother and went to look at the Quattro 2 and found the machine I want! A Janome 12000. Lol. That is well built machine.

Looking at message boards for machine reviews is helpful, but few people have multiple top of the line machines, so getting a good comparison can be difficult. Also, we all want what we get to be the right decision, so it's human nature to like it; especially when we spend the $$ the top machines cost.

Oh, I've also looked at servers which are fun. I made a bag several years ago in a class and it was great. A friend of my wife has a 2007 Evolve that she hardly ever used and offered to sell it for $800 - that is a great deal!

Any input on sewing machine brands would be helpful. We want something we can sew with and embroider (without needing to get out my old PC with a floppy drive). It's hard to justify the cost of the top machines, but it's also great tobe able to do things you couldn't do otherwise. Having a really good machine makes using it more enjoyable and I think it gets used a lot more.

Jim

Howdy and welcome, from Texas!

I recently bought a Janome (7700) and love it. One great thing about Janome (aside from the excellent quality), is the availability and reasonable price of accessories.

Welcome from Minnesota and happy quilting :)

Hello, welcome from Oklahoma!!!

Hi Jim !! Welcome from Mesa! glad you joined us.:)

Morning from me in the UK, nice to meet you
Mx

Hello from Texas. I can't offer any input on new machines. I am still happy with my '78 Kenmore. The price is sure right, but it doesn't do any automatic embroidery. Good luck in your machine search and let us know which you choose.

Hi from Ohio!

Hi Jim - welcome from New Hampshire

Welcome from the California desert.:thumbup:

Thanks to all of you for the welcome. Not surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be that many men on this site.

Looking for a new sewing machine is a daunting task. There are so many options out there and there are many brands that seem to have quality. At this point, I've narrowed my list down to:
- Janome
- Brother
- Babylock

That is funny because going into this, we were looking at Viking OR Bernina. We also like Bernina, but there seems to be too much price gouging for their accessories. We do plan to look at the new 700 machines that are just now coming out - I think that was this weekend at Bernina University? My initial impression is that the Bernina machines are not as intuitive to use. But that impression is not based on use, so I need to be open.

My wife and I like what the top of the line machines do, but it is so hard to justify the cost. And we ask ourselves if we're really going to use it that much, need all of those options. Then looking at the other models, the number of models to pick from makes me want to run screaming into the night! I suppose having too many options to pick from is not a valid reason to spend so much though...

We are signed up for a "Test Drive" on the Janome 12000 on Saturday. That may not be a good thing to do, as it could make it very hard to then get a lower end machine. lol.

Thanks again for the welcomes. Any advice on machine brands would still be helpful. I think the dealer is also important - maybe up to 20-35% of it. Time to get to my day job.

Welcome from Michigan!:)

:) welcome from se TX

Welcome from Vancouver (USA) - It is so good to see a couple get interested in quilting. Looking forward to updates on your journey.

Hi and welcome from Kentucky!

Welcome Jim! Good luck in your search for machines. It's not easy and everyone needs something a little different.

Hi Jim, welcome from NE Ohio.

My comfort zone is still Designer 1 , but I am growing into my SE. My friend who lives in Laveen still uses her Des 1 too and she also has a Pfaff............calla

Hello Jim!
Welcome from Minnesota!
Go to some dealers and "test drive" some machines!
(kinda like you do a car!!)
Have fun!! :)

We are signed up for a 12000 test drive on Saturday. There's 6 in these classes and it sounded like there may be a "special" offer afterwards. We're also thinking maybe the 7700 and separate embroidery machine is a better way to go, but my wife talked to the sales lady today on the phone and she was really talking up the 12000. My wife is going in to talk to her today and look at the other machines before we do the test drive. The 12000 looks like a great machine, but it is so costly it makes it hard to justify.

The other interesting thing is the sales lady is really recommending the Janome 12000 over the Brother Quattro 2 with both at the same $9k price. She says the Janome will handle harder sewing better like dense embroidery. Also, her husband works there in repair and he sees Janome the least. I think the Brother is more intuitive to use, but the Janome is more of a workhorse and I like the design better in robustness and form (no embroidery unit off to the left side). But that's just my impression.

Hi Jim, welcome from Rhode Island. I love the Janome sewing machines, but thats me.

My wife and I did a "Test Drive" on the Janome 12000 on Saturday - we were both able to be on a machine since it wasn't full. The machine is impressive, but ... We decided to not get it at this time. We are still looking at Janome and may get a lower model model, maybe even a used machine someone traded in. My wife did buy an old Viking today off of Craigslist that was similar to one she used for years that her mom gave her. She used it until the cams wore out. This one was $100 which is slightly less than the 12000... We are also going to try a Babylock Evolve at a class on Wed that a friend of hers bought but never used. It's a great deal on that.