I am in a delima. I am thinking about purchasing a used brother pacesetter ULT 2001 or a brother 6500. I have never owned an embroidery machine. Would it be helpful in quilting. A lot of people say they don't really use the embroidery. I don't want to waste 900.00 . Tell me will I find the embroidery useful and would quilting on either machine be better than my old white computerized machine. Please give me information to help me decide. Thank you so much for comments. I am not a great quilter, should I spend my money on lessons?
I have joined a quilting club and I am learning.
Give me heart felt honest advice.

I like my emb machine. I can embroider blocks to put in quilts, make labels, embroider out appliques or on other items.
I think that some people are intimidated by their emb machines...I did not use mine for almost 6 months after I got it..then one day I sat down with it and the manual and started right into it :D:D:D
I guess it depends on how interested in embroidery that you are.

this review site might help...
http://www.consumersearch.com/sewing-machines/review

Personally speaking, I use my emb machine alot for my quilts. I love the look of added embroidery.

I sew & quilt on it too, but I do free motion quilting. Once in a while I will use a quilt design to quilt blocks when making a quilt as you go, but I haven't tried the designs on a big quilt yet.

Once you get into embroidery I think you will find you use it on many many things other than quilts.

I use mine for clothes, purses, pot holders whatever I can hoop. LOL

Good luck.

I would get the Ult
I had the 8500 and loved it and then got the Duetta...and I love, love it...so much when I got a great steal on the Pfaff Creative Vision 5.0 I had to buy it as well.
Get the largest hoop size you can afford. Brother machines are very user friendly.
I use the emb. for gifts, in the hoop projects (baby bibs, baby wipe cases, makeup bags, etc...) and for quilting some quilts.
PM me if you have any questions and I will try and answer them.
Kirsten

I wanted to buy one of the machines that has an embroidery function but decided against it for 2 reasons:
1. I am not a huge fan of embroidery, and odds are, I won't start at the tender age of 50+
2. I would need a second machine to do the piecing or other sewing while the embroidery machine is doing its thing and I would not want to carry this machine to classes.

Using the embroidery is great for some and not so for others, I use mine a lot as some will tell you, I love it, but then again, there are still things that I do with out the use of it. There is no way to tell until you try it whether you will end up using it a lot of a little or not at all. Some find it difficult, others easy, there are a lot of people on the board that use their embroidery machines so if you decide to go that way there is a lot of help.

I have been having a ball with mine. It's so much fun.

I love to have the embroidery machine just "clicking away" while I am sewing on another machine...piecing, quilting, making tote bags, raggy quilts, gifts. I would really miss my embroidery machine if I didn't have it...heaven forbid.

I too have embroidered out quilt blocks such as 2 fishing quilts I made for my youngest son & grandson...both were different, yet similar. They were really a lot of fun to make them.

Go to some LQS and get demos, ideas, and see if they have classes, etc. There's lots of ideas, tutorials, etc. on boards like this now, and gobs of info on the internet.

Good luck and have fun!

I have the Brother ULT 2003 D for 4 yrs now and it has been a work Horse the only thing I don't like is how hard it it to replace the bobbin shuttle after you clean it but other than that it does wonderful embroidery and sewing

I have a Brother 8500 sewing/embroidery machine which I dearly love. I take it to the dealer who sold it about once every other year to clean it and check it, and it is a real workhorse, and I bought it new years ago!
Lulie

You might not like doing machine embroidery. I will try to give you some food for thought that may help you to decide whether to invest in a machine that embroiders.

Some people take to it like a duck to water; for some it takes getting used to. I am not an avid machine embroiderer. I only use it for quilt blocks and to decorate a sweatshirt every once in a while. People with young children or grandchildren (which I do not have) have a much greater use for their embroidery machines. A lot of machine embroiderers love frou-frou stuff ... doilies, free standing bowls and boxes, framed pictures, etc. No frou frou for me -- ever!

You should know that the machine itself is just the beginning of your investment. Quality embroidery thread is expensive, good stabilizers are expensive and come in a wide variety of weights and types for specific uses. You will be on the lookout for sales on both stabilizers and quality M.E. thread. I've gotten to where I often buy a whole bolt of stabilizer at Joann's, using a 40 or 50% off coupon. You will need special needles, special bobbin thread and possibly more hoops than come as standard accessories, and also software, which can be pricey, depending on what you want to do with it. You should have a computer capable of hooking up to your machine. I have all my embroidery designs stored on my computer, with backup on USB sticks. The embroidery design filing system itself can be quite cumbersome, depending on how organized you are.

I have no problem with the fact that if I'm embroidering, I can't be sewing, because I keep a close eye and ear on my machine when it's embroidering. It is a bad idea to leave the machine alone while its stitching; it's an invitation for disaster. I don't mind that my machine is a combined embroidery/sewing machine, but, knowing what I know now, if I had it to do over again, I'd buy 2 machines I think, one just a dedicated embroidery machine and the other for quilt piecing, etc.

For me, the bottom line is that I really like my machine and am happy that I have it available to me to embroider things when I want to. My machine is a top-of-the-line Janome and I don't know anything about the inexpensive ones ... whether they are a good investment or a poor one.

Hope this helps and that I haven't wasted both your and my time.

Wow. 50 plus. You make it sound like age puts an end to the types of sewing you do. I am 50 plus, too, and am in the prime of my sewing with two sewing machines, 2 sergers, computer, and software. I can take photos and turn them into embroideries. For me it is fun and fantastic. At 50 plus, I am just getting started!!!!!!! I admire the projects that the people do on this website and am amazed at the turnout that even lesser machines can accomplish and such skill of their operators. Please don't let you age hold you back...money maybe...but not age!/Lissa

Wow. 50 plus. You make it sound like age puts an end to the types of sewing you do. I am 50 plus, too, and am in the prime of my sewing with two sewing machines, 2 sergers, computer, and software. I can take photos and turn them into embroideries. For me it is fun and fantastic. At 50 plus, I am just getting started!!!!!!! I admire the projects that the people do on this website and am amazed at the turnout that even lesser machines can accomplish and such skill of their operators. Please don't let you age hold you back...money maybe...but not age!/Lissa

Happy Sewer, are you still wondering whether to invest in an embroidery machine? If so, this may be a worthwhile tip for you. Go to www.emblibrary.com home page. In the far right corner is a square that you can click on; I don't know exactly what it says, but it's all to do with projects. When you click on it, it takes you to a page with an option at the top to watch videos (free). There is a huge variety of videos and PDFs to choose from; they might give you a better idea whether or not you would like and would use an embroidery machine.