cbjlinda

Make sure that you make up your mind before you go out that you are not going to buy a machine no matter how suggestive they are untill you have seen each and every brand or stor that you want too. I guarantee those same machines will be there when you go back. I have been buying machines for over fourty years and when I decided to go in and buy a new one that would last me for several years I took a piece of paper and listed the requirements that were important for me to have on my machine. when you are in a shop all your thoughts can go out the window once they start showing you what they have. next I brought my own material swatches to sew on. I listed the different brands I was interested in and wrote notes of things I liked or didn't like along side of each one. When I went out to get my new machine I had made up my mind that I wanted a new viking because I had an old one that I just loved. Well I started with the pfaff store and was totally blown away by the machines. a good friend of mine in her eighties had told me that was the machine to get and I had gone back and fourth with her because I loved my viking. Wellllll by the time I test drove the new machines I could not beleive the difference. it was the pfaff hands down! I love the walking foot and since most of my sewing is quilting it is soooooooo handy to have it right there on the machine and all I have to do is pull it down. my hubby was with me and he could not believe the difference in the quality of the machines. He also suggested the pfaff. Anyway I sound like a salesman and I don't mean to be " you will find that all of us have our own favorite machine brands. All I really want to say is don't go out with any preconceived notions because you might just wind up changeing your mind. lols

romanojg

I have found that my machine will have the needle up/down feature as well as the cut threads button. I have two machines each one have one of these features; if they'd have them both I'd be one happy camper and also the needle threader is great

wishfulthinking

Great information. Thanks!

bearisgray

Be sure to bring some of your own fabric(s) with you -

Last time I looked (which was many years ago), the demo fabric roll was a fairly stiff cotton that would behave well almost no matter what.

If you sew slippery fabrics, be sure to bring some of those with you to test sew on.

lots2do

Ask people you trust which dealers to go to and which to avoid like the plague, if you can. We have one of the latter in town, I don't know how she stays in business!

carrieg

When I was looking for a new machine, I didn't know what options to ask about! Enjoy the process but don't stress out - have fun!

incoming2me

Great information!
I don't know that I'd have thought that much into it other than using their materials.