oksand

Hi, I'm a new user. I've been learning to quilt for about a year on one of those super-cheap beginner Brother machines, which just died on me. I'm definitely still in the stitch-in-the-ditch phase and my craft space is just a small table in my one bedroom apartment, so I'm not looking for anything fancy. I've seen a couple of good reviews of the Janome HD3000 and it looks like it has some of the features that were missing on my entry-level machine. And while it's a little more than I want to spend, it's not out of the question.

I'm mostly worried that it will be too small if I ever decide to go beyond lap quilts. I'm also wondering if it's really as sturdy as the product description suggests. Does anyone here quilt on one?

Stitchnripper

I don’t know your price frame but I just ordered a second Brother PQ1500 from amazon. It is a straight stitch only machine but there is a lot of space for quilting. It is a high shank. I want to leave one set up for piecing and one set up for free motion quilting. I really do like the machine.

juliasb

I do not have experience with this machine but after looking at some of the YouTube videos I would say it probably is what it is lined up to be. I love my Janome machines. I have both a serger and a regular machine. My regular machine I purchased back in the 80's and it cost more than this machine. The HD3000 is a nice basic machine and it should provide you years of sewing. The only thing however is you may want a machine that has a longer throat for machine quilting. You would be able to do a full size quilt with a bit of a struggle and I have done many many on this size machine but I do love the Brother 1500se that has the longer 9" throat. It is much better for quilting and only has a single straight stitch.
If you are going to be using the Janome for both garment and quilting this may be your better bet. If only using it for quilting you may want to consider something else.

oksand

I've thought about that one because it seems to be the most highly recommended midrange machine, but it's a little pricey for me and I'm also worried it might be too large for my space. I haven't seen it anywhere for less than the high $500s-- do you think if I waited a while a used one would come up? The shop closest to me carries a different brand.

oksand

Thanks, this is a good point. I want to eventually do some dressmaking too so this might be a good middle ground.

Stitchnripper

you could check Walmart.com. Might be a little less. It doesn’t take up that much more space than my smaller Brothers. It is a little taller and heavier but I can still lift it if I want to move it

Austinite

I have an HD3000, it's a great machine! I bought mine in 2014 and it's still going great! It's totally mechanical which suits me just fine, it has a one step buttonhole which works really well, excellent stitch quality, I've made bags, purses, pillows, some clothes, and more than a few quilts with it. It does FMQ very nicely and I FMQd two quilts with it the others I did with a walking foot. It was my primary machine and then I got a Juki 2010 straight stitcher which I have set up all the time but I actually had my Janome out a couple weeks ago! I have a Sewing Mates universal extension table that I use with it.
Amazon carries them for $429, I paid around that locally I think. If you have any more questions feel free to pm me or put on here!

Bags

If I may chime in about the Brother PQ1500SL? I had been using a Bernina B215 for all my sewing. It was a struggle, needless to say, to do simple straight line queen size quilts and thick fabrics/layers. I was incredibly frustrated. It wasn't the machine's fault. It's a lovely machine, but just wasn't made for the stuff I wanted to sew.

Last December, after reading reviews and asking questions on this board, I ordered the Brother from Walmart. $479 + tax. I love it. The large harp space, the high clearance of the presser foot and no computers to mess with. (I also have adopted 3 VSMs in the meantime). I've also started to dabble in FMQ with it.

I ordered from Walmart because I knew I had 30 days to return it, if for some reason I didn't like it or it wasn't working right. The Brother dealer closest to me (30 miles) wouldn't tell me over the phone their price, except to say it was less than the $1699.00 MSRP, but not how much lower. I had a budget that I was not going to go over. They also wouldn't let me test drive it because it was brand new out of the box.

I ordered my Brother as soon as I got off the phone with them.

Good luck and have fun,
Carol