I have a booklet on the Bernina 440 QE, I was looking at one at Hancocks and absolutely fell in love with it. My dream machine, with the embroidery attachment it was $3500.00 but sure if I was ready to buy that I could have gotten it a little cheaper but watching the lady demo it I was very impressed.

Look at all the suggested brands online to find out the dimensions, then go to the stores for the ones you are most interested it trying.

Right after I purchased my Symphony, which I totally love, I test drove one of these, it was very nice. It came with a nice acrylic table extention.

You could be right - my old 7570 was made in Germany and just keeps on sewing. My CV has a label on the front that says german design. Just so it is NOT made in China. I have Pfaff machines for over 25 years and prefer them over any others at this time.

Definately check the Baby Lock. Janome is good too.

I'm getting ready to try a 6600 next week. I've been looking at them on line and my husband has ok'd the purchase. I would love to talk to someone who owns one. Is the larger throat a big difference for you when you are fmq? Is the acc-feed foot really a great feature? Is it user friendly?. I have to go to Lake City to test drive one. The owner's wife of the shop has one and he will have her bring it in so I can sew on it. I'm a little nervous about a large purchase. I just want to have the right machine for me.

You can get a great Brother for that price range!

Janome 1600DB is straight stitch, metal bobbin holder, large throat opening and can go faster then the Janome 6500. It also has a wonderful knee lifter and build in thread cutter like the 6500, 6600, 7700. The good part is you will have about $2000 left to spend on fabric. It is made for quilting but is also wonderful for piecing. No bells or wisthles except what you NEED for quilting. There are different models, besure to get the one with the automatic thread cutter. Push the button and cut. I own several Janomes including the 6500.

SO true ... Pfaffs have NOT been made in Germany for the last 10 yrs or so, they are manuf in Asia now and some in Eastern Europe. Some models were being made in Sweden for a few years after Viking bought Pfaff, but no longer.
I had a 25 yr old mech. Pfaff that NEVER had a problem, but I wanted the new features, so I bought one in 2007. It was made in the Czech Republic and I had nothing BUT problems. It sewed NOTHING like many friends' machines, all made prev. in Germany. What a disappointment ...
Hopefully the newer Expression 2-4.0 models have solved their quality problems now. So much for that "German Engineering" !

I just bought a Pfaff Creative 4.0. It has a much bigger throat than most machines. It also has Integrated Dual Feed, which is a built in walking foot. I am learning to free motion on it and it has worked wonderfully. I have been sewing up a storm on this machine and I LOVE IT!!! I wouldn't buy anything else. You can also buy an embroidery unit to go with it, but I don't have time to for that. I have had Pfaffs for years. I wore out my old one that I had for 25 years. I looked at all the machines out there and decided this one was for me. I love the bigger throat. Take a look at it, I think you will love it like I did.