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Machine Recommendations

Old 03-20-2018, 09:31 AM
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Question Machine Recommendations

Good afternoon!
Today my mother surprised me with an offer to purchase me a new machine for my birthday next month. Right now I'm piecing and machine quilting on a $100 ancient Brother. I think I would enjoy Free Motion Quilting, but the thought of being able to edge to edge quilt with an embroidery machine is awfully appealing as well (in theory). I tried Free Motion on my ancient Brother (it technically can do it), but became overwhelmingly frustrated at constant thread tension issues, which is why I'm drawn to the idea of using embroidery machines to 'cheat' and get perfect beautiful designs. I've also been toying with the ideas of using the 'fancy' stitches (embroidery stitches?) that are available on most models to machine quilt something interesting in the background, but I'm not sure that it would look very nice.

I have a tiny house and a neat freak husband, so I'm constantly unpacking and repacking my sewing stuff onto the kitchen table, so portability is a must at this stage.

Anyway, enough rambling, I'm curious what your recommendations are for machines I should put on my wish list. Thanks everyone!

Last edited by sef0181; 03-20-2018 at 09:41 AM.
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Old 03-20-2018, 10:43 AM
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Do you have any idea of the price range?

For a portable sewing machine, you may want to look at the Brother CS6000i:
https://www.amazon.com/Brother-Featu...dp/B000JQM1DE/
This machine has been around for quite awhile, and a lot of quilters on the QB like it. It has quite a few embroidery stitches.

A lot of quilters also like the Janome Jem line for a portable sewing machine:
https://www.amazon.com/Janome-Sewing...dp/B015YCBJN0/

Be aware that any portable machine is going to have a small harp (the area under the arm), making it difficult to quilt larger than lap-size, twin-size quilts.

A newer machine on the market that gets great reviews is Eversewn. Here is a link to their top-of-the-line machine:
https://www.amazon.com/EverSewn-Spar...dp/B073QYJY3Y/
(Honestly, the color and reviews alone on this one would tempt me to buy it if I had any excuse to do so.)

All of the above machines come with decorative stitches.

I would not consider buying an embroidery machine until you first have a better quality sewing machine to work on. Later on, you may want to consider getting a Brother PE770, which is a good starter embroidery machine.

Combo machines (sewing + embroidery) tend to be more expensive. Sewing machines with bigger harps tend to be heavier, bigger, and less portable.

Edit: Do not get rid of your old machine if you can help it. It's always a good idea to have an old workhorse machine as a backup. Most of the newer machines do not last as long as the vintage machines.
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Old 03-20-2018, 10:44 AM
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Yay for you!! You have an awesome, generous mom. Do you have a budget to work with?
 
Old 03-20-2018, 11:08 AM
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I've seen Janome given as prizes for quilt competitions, but maybe they are just generous sponsers.
If I were to get another machine to supplement my beloved Bernina from the mid '70's, it would be a lightweight portable to take to workshops. A lot has to do with what you need -- try visiting a couple of stores and spending time trying out what's available.
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Old 03-20-2018, 11:18 AM
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Budget would allow us an idea of what to recommend I love my brother embroidery machine but wouldn't call it portable as it is large and heavy
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Old 03-20-2018, 01:43 PM
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As mentioned you need the portability of a smaller machine, as you state you have to pack/unpack your sewing projects due to space constraints and neat freak dh.......and full embroidery/sewing machine combos are large, heavy and really need to be planted, imho.......
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Old 03-20-2018, 03:34 PM
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how much money is the first question.... I love Janomes. I have a 6600 and a Magnolia 7330 to take places with me - I recommend that one for sure
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Old 03-20-2018, 03:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Prism99 View Post
Do you have any idea of the price range?
For a portable sewing machine, you may want to look at the Brother CS6000i:
https://www.amazon.com/Brother-Featu...dp/B000JQM1DE/
This machine has been around for quite awhile, and a lot of quilters on the QB like it. It has quite a few embroidery stitches.

A newer machine on the market that gets great reviews is Eversewn. Here is a link to their top-of-the-line machine:
https://www.amazon.com/EverSewn-Spar...dp/B073QYJY3Y/
(Honestly, the color and reviews alone on this one would tempt me to buy it if I had any excuse to do so.)

Edit: Do not get rid of your old machine if you can help it. It's always a good idea to have an old workhorse machine as a backup. Most of the newer machines do not last as long as the vintage machines.
I just visited a website, Mamacandoit, and I believe this Brother, CS6000i is the one she bought and reviews, saying how happy she is with it. There was a time when I thought all Brothers was a junk machine, but over time realized junk applied only to the cheapo one I was handed and asked to repair, just always was out of time.

Onebyone has talked about the Sparrow on this site and it sure sounds good to me. If I were in the market for a new machine, I would try it out first.
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Old 03-20-2018, 04:52 PM
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What a wonderful gift from your Mom!
Without knowing your budget I recently bought a TLJuki 2101Q for machine quilting and I love it. It runs around 900.00. However, it is straight stitch only.
My Bernina has all the fancy stuff but they are pricey.
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Old 03-20-2018, 06:08 PM
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She didn't mention a budget, but when I started looking, I was kind of drawn to the Jukki HZL-F600 (being able to drop my heel and cut the thread sounds amazing!) or the Janome Memory Craft 6500P (Janome is the only local dealer) if I were going to be purchasing something that could do a bit of everything. I think if it went over $1000 I would feel so guilty I'd pay for most of it myself. Let's say under $1500? She just invested in a $3000 Janome (not sure which) that is designed more for embroidery and less for quilting, so if, in theory, I wanted to embroider something, I have access to a machine.
I know that straight stitch machines are most common for quilters, however I want to try applique techniques and would need a zig-zag stitch, if I'm not mistaken?
The biggest complaint I have with my Brother are 1) the foot pedal has little speed control 2) I barely had enough room to maneuver an oversized lap blanket 3) it was impossible to even try to free motion quilt very much
To me, portability means it will fit in some kind of sewing machine bag and isn't much more than 35 lbs.
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