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Check out Juki and Baby Lock. Fons & Porter now use Baby Lock, as do Eleanor Burns and Jenny Doan at Missouri Star.

That said, I have a Bernina 440 QE that is my baby, but the throat is too small for me to quilt comfortably. I do like the decorative stitches, because there are times when instead of just doing plain old SITD, I widen the decorative stitches and sew on top of the seams, which makes it more like crazy quilting. I won a Bernina 240 about 3 years ago, and asked what the price was for insurance purposes, and they told me it retailed for $1,400. It uses the same feet, bobbins, etc., as my 440, so I now have spares of everything. Unfortunately, it didn't come with the walking foot, which will run you a pretty penny. The needle up/down feature and the knee lift are both great features, especially if you are doing machine applique. However, I had to learn to use the pedal with my left foot, as I couldn't coordinate the pedal and the knee both with the right leg. I guess I'll never be a drummer, either. LOL

Watson's mom is right. Keep your Brother as a back up (in case your new machine has to go into the shop) and as a travel machine for retreats and classes. It never hurts to have an extra machine around the house (at last count, I have 12, and only one of them doesn't work).

Quote:

Originally Posted by ontheriver (Post 6080591)

The brother 1500 has a 9in throat, comes with all the feet (FMQ and walking, plus others). Costs under 700.00. But is only straight stitch machine. Does great piecing and quilting. Has thread cutter and needle down features, also knee lift and small extension table. Have mine on a frame for quilting right now, have used it on table and it does not move. But later you may decide you want some fancy stitches or just a zig zag for basic machine appliqué which this machine does not have.

I have hours and hours of sewing on my Brother 1500...LOVE it----I also have a high-end brother with all the fancy stitches....but my workhorse is the 1500...for piecing and quilting---it is the best---and the walking foot for this one is 4 times better than the one on my "fancy" machine.

Get the brother 1500. It is a wonderful machine. If you need fancy stitches, but a cheapie Brother from Walmart. The cheapie Brother from Walmart will have all the fancy stitches you need and will be easy to carry around for classes. The 1500 will sew through anything you can think of and will let you quilt king sized quilts. You will be able to buy both for well under you budget and have money left for other quilty things.

P.S. The screw on your other machine is easily replaced. I know because I have a habit of dropping them into unknown places!!

I have a Brother SQ9000 and it came with a walking foot attachment and several other feet. I bought a !/4" foot with that little blade thingy for less than $2.00 on Amazon a while back.

And it costs around $200.00, you don't need a $1500.00 machine to sew on.....:)

You sound like me.... I have the Babylock Jane. Exact same machine as the Brother PS 5100. It's a simple straight stitch machine made of metal. Largr throat. All feet are included. I spent $800. My apologize for my poor grammer, I'm typing this from my IPhone during my work break.

I very quickly 'outgrew' my first machine (a Janome). Luckily I bought it at half-price in a closing down sale and sold it for what I paid for it :). I bought a better Janome with needle up/down, auto thread cutter, lock stitch etc (which I love and take to classes).

A few months ago I bought a Pfaff QE4 purely for the auto-pivot (I do a lot of appliqué), built-in walking foot and larger harp.

Consider a machine you can grow in to. Just because you think you don't 'need' some of the features now, you might soon! Make a 'wish list' of the features you want the most and try as many as possible. Happy shopping!

Thanks, everyone, for your insight! You've given me a lot to think about. I will definitely check out the Brother and I hadn't heard of Babylocks before. The two shops near me specialize in Janome and Bernina, but I found a shop a little further away that sells Babylock. A used machine also sounds like a good option.

In the meantime, I'll be picking up a shelf liner today. :-)

I agree with going to all the local dealers with your price range and want-list and try out their used machines. You will get a lot more bang for your buck that way. As others mentioned, make sure the used machine is warrantied by the dealer. Ask about lessons too (free).

I too have a Brother 1500sp and LOVE IT. No fancy stitches but you do not need any for peicing and FMQ or SID. I bought my machine from Amazon for $600 with no tax and free shipping. I guess this is a high end machine because the LQS price was $1200. Go to LQS and test drive machine and get on you like the feel of. I also have a Singer Confidence Quilter from Joann's for $300 which I use to do my fancy stitches and also take to class. It does a nice job peicing but the Brothers is much nicer/easier for FMQ. IMHO A machine may help make you a good quiltyer but the skill still lies with the person!

Whatever you choose to buy, I vote for purchasing from a reputable (sp) local dealer so that you can get to a repair person when you need one, and one that can back up the manufacturer's warranty.