Baby Lock Jazz
 

I recently bought a Baby Lock Jazz sewing machine. While it's great that it has multiple stitches and runs very fast, it doesn't have an automatic needle down feature, which is very important for machine quilting. I do find it convenient for making curtains, pillow cases and other items that just need straight sewing. I tried to do some quilting on it, but it didn't do a very good job because I have to hand turn the needle down to keep it in place.
Does anyone have this machine and what are your thoughts on it, pros and cons?

I remember a lot of comments when this machine first came out and none of them were favorable. My BFF is looking for a machine and I thought she might want it. Not after the negative reviews....and I'm a Baby Lock fan. Sorry yours is not doing all you hoped it would do.

I was excited to see that machine..sounded perfect but the early press wasn't so good on it due to the lack of needle up/down. Just wanted to say it does have some great things about it ..nice to have the extra space and more than a straight-stitch to choose from. Keep in mind, lots of people do amazing work with the vintage straight-stitch only Singers without any of the features we like. In fact, i hear a lot about quilters who actually have the auto thread-cutters and don't use them bc they leave thread tails behind. I hope you can enjoy the pluses and learn to love your new machine..if not, then you ain't married to it and can try to trade it back to the dealer or sell it to buy another. Good luck!

I bought a Jazz a few days ago, but the pedal made a very loud buzzing sound, something I had not noticed when trying it at the store, and the buzz continued during stitching, so we took it back.

The lack of a needle down option seemed to be the biggest complaint about this machine in the reviews I read. Could you get used to holding your quilt in place while you use the hand wheel to lower the needle?

A nice feature for me, not sure it would keep me from buying it if I liked all the other features.

https://www.quiltingboard.com/pictur...e-t281900.html
i bought this machine last year and wrote a review ( see above link).
Do I love it no - except for straight line quilting. My go to piecing machine is a Viking Emerald 118, which is a workhorse. I am keeping the Jazz as a backup machine.

Here's another recent discussion - note svan's experience documented in the thread

https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f...z-t280974.html

Michelle

No needle up/down ? That feature is on the most inexpensive machines now. When you are use to needle up/down it's frustrating not to have that. I wonder what was the reasoning not to have that on this machine. Really a dumb idea not to.

I tried the Jazz at the local sewing machine dealership. It sews fast. No needle up/down is annoying. The machine I tested was marked down and the dealership is not going to reorder after its stock is gone. I think that the lack of needle up/down is a deal breaker for many customers. Not only is it harder to do free motion but it's harder to chain piece.

I don't know anything about a Baby Lock, but on my Viking if I'm sewing with it without the needle down button pushed and just "tap" the foot pedal, the needle will go down; I don't know if that is something your machine can do or not but would be worth a try. Just a thought.