My next will be a Janome Horizon..It has more room in the throat area...Yes I am saving my pennies for one!!

Can o'worms is right. It's going to depend a LOT on your price range. Unlimited or Limited funds? Do you want brand new or used?

Love my Janome 6600

Okay guys.......

Here is why I asked.... I have a Janome 4900, a Brother 4000D Embroudery machine and the Janome Horizon....... But I recently joined a sewing group and one of the ladies there has a Bernina and she said it has a built in stitch regulator... So I thought that I might need one of them.... LOL. I didn't know if I was missing out!!!!!

Am I? Do I need a Bernina?

Hugs

My Bernina 820 which is new or my Babylock Espire which is now an oldie but goody

Oh, my... can you just imagine what the Quilt Police could do with THAT question! :lol:

I love my Pfaff 2056 with IDT. I know there are plenty of good machines out there. Personally, I think it is all in what you get used to.

I just bought a viking sapphire 875 and I love it. No embrodiery, just a great sewing machine.

LOVE, love, love, my Pfaffs. all of them!!

Janome 6600P. Very fast and reliable!

I also have the Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0 and I love it. The walking foot system is fantastic and the spacious free-arm makes quilting so much easier.

IMHO..If you just want a straight stitch machine a nice old 301 Singer is a great machine. I'm not sure what you have available in that regard where you are, but you might check with your old sewing machine shop and see what they have.

I've worked in a quilt shop for 3 years and I did not like the low end Janome machines. I have a newer Babylock that is pretty good, but none of the newer machines are as good as some of the old model singers. 201, 221, 301 specifically are well made machines and will run for your lifetime. If you think you'll do some knitwear sewing you might want a machine that does zig zag, but for straight stitching only...stay with Singer, Kenmore, Bernina, Pfaff or the older basic, steel and iron babies :).

If you're talking about doing freemotion it's nice to have feedogs that drop. My Babylock didn't like doing freemotion, it was too fine tuned to do embroidery to respond to all the needle deflecting that goes on when you do freemotion.

A can of worms for sure.
I once had a Juki but didn't care for it. Then I did a lot of test driving and fell in love with a Pfaff Expression 2.0. Dual lights, big throat space, needle down position. FMQ ease, IDT (stitch regulator) and a nice selection of fancy stitches.

Bernina 820!! Actually any Bernina, can't be beat.

I guess I see this question and the following replies very differently than some of you because it hasn't been a 'can of worms' at all! :D Each of us has just praised our own machines without telling the OP or anyone else that they have to own this or that machine or else! It's just been a fun discussion of each of us getting to brag on our favorites. And I've enjoyed reading about everyone's favorites and why. :D :D

Personally, I love my Innova for just quilting...since it is a LA, I haven't tried to piece with it.....yet!!!

I have the Juki TL98E and the same goes for it.

Me too - the Horizon.

My Husquavarna Sapphire 870!!!

LOL. I have the Viking Designer SE and the Baby Lock Symphony. I like them both for quilting.

Pretty much any Bernina.

I bought a used Bernina 10+ years ago. It is still going strong. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I currently use two machines--a Viking and Pfaff--and love them both for slightly different things. You can see from the trend of the posts that there are some brands that are favored by a lot of people, but so much of it depends on what YOU want. Do a lot of test driving before you buy and have a list of features that are important to you so that you can make sure you get a machine that at least meets your minimum criteria. There are things about my Pfaff that irritate me. When the bobbin gets low, it stops every few inches until I change it, which is a huge nuisance if it stops in the middle of a long seam. It tends to eat fabric unless you use a leader. But it sews a dead accurate 1/4 inch seam and the IDT feature insures that my quilts are much straighter than they once were.

For piecing and quilting you can't beat the Brother PQ1500S machine... The price is great also and it can be used on a frame if you like---

Would not trade my Babylock Espire (now marketed as Symphonie) for all the fabric in Padukah. LOVE that machine!

Viking Sapphire 870

I love my Brother 1500. It is my third Brother and I love them all.

I have the Brother PQ 1500s it has a pin feed, came with all the attachments, you can lower the feed dogs, the arm is 9" and higher than the norm. I got it on ebay before Christmas from Kens Sewing in ALA or Ga can remember which, and I love it. PRICE WAS GREAT WITH FREE SHIP. Best of all the walking foot edges are EXACTLY 1/4 inch from the needle, and I had only planned to use it for quilting, but now do all my piecing on it with walking foot, it doesnt distort bias at all, it has only straight stitch, so the stitch quality is very good, (and I have Featherweights, so for me to say that is SOMETHING!):)

I love my Janome

I too love my Janome 6500 but one of the things you need to consider is service - altho' mine hasn't needed any (5+ years old), just good cleanings once in a while. The store I purchased mine from was my old Singer dealer and his service has always been excellent!

I like my oldies (Singers dating from 1911-a treadle- to the 1970's) for straight stitching, But use my Janome 6500 for most other things. If you are going to FMQ, look for a machine with the needle up/down feature. I seem to prefer the older machines because I can handle routine maintenance on them. Many of the new units don't have instructions in the manuals to clean and lubricate them -- which means to have any warantee honored, you need to have them serviced by a technician. It sounds funny, but check the manual if this is important to you as a buyer/user.

i have 2 brothers one with embroidery one dos not love them

love my Janome........could someone suggest a printer for printing on fabric...I have an HP but color doesn't always come out true....

Everyone is going to have their own fave....it is just like buying a car. Some like Chevy, some like Ford.

I have had Bernina and Janome. I love my Janome and you certainly get more bang for your buck with them. The accessories are half the price of Bernina and you usually get a lot with them. If you can afford it, the 7700 is a sweeeeet machine!

That being said, you have to find the machine that works for you.

Have you tried using a laser printer rather than an ink jet? I have a Brother color laser that prints like a dream!

Check the fabric you are printing on. Some will only accept ink jet.

I loved my Emb.Baby Loc so much I got the BL Quilters Choice. It puts the thread in the needle. Cuts the thread. Has needle down or up when you stop. It has a little table attachment for quilting. It does so many stitches and I love the 1/4" foot. You can move the needle to the left or right for a scant 1/4" etc. You can set it to back stitch at the end of a line of stitching.
Too many features to mention. Easy to understand instruction book, they also give you free lessons.
Get what you have service for in your area. I called Husq. shop to get a price range on the embroidery machines. Never returned my calls. Why do they spend so much $$ on ads. and then not respond to potential customers? My DH went out & bought me the emb. machine for Christmas that year. The people at the Baby Loc shop are so nice when I take the machine in for cleaning and the "well Baby" check up I got the quilting machine.
In 5 years it has never broken down on me.
Buying a sewing machine is a very big investment. I have never heard of anyone not liking the Baby Loc. Go & try different machines and see if you like the service before you buy.

I also have a Janome but a 6600p. I love the extra big throat for quilting.

thanks

I use the pretreated fabric from JoAnns in my ink jet....