I have a 20 yr. old manual Janome...just bought a new 1/4 foot for it and it works great, after I figured out where to move the needle to. I marked that spot on the dial with a Sanford permanent marker so I won't forget where it is supposed to be.

You need a 1/4 foot with guide. It will change your quilting life.

There is a 1/4 foot with guide to fit all Brother machines.

You are going to try out the machine before you purchase, correct? If so, be sure to check out the 1/4" seam yourself.

Most of the new machines allow you to adjust the needle so that the fabric can completely cover the feed dogs while you are sewing the 1/4" seam. However, this is something you need to check out in person.

Here's something you may also want to check out -- whether the needle position can be retained in memory when you turn off the machine. I love my older Bernina 1230. It allows me to adjust the needle so that the fabric completely covers the feed dogs while I sew 1/4" seams. HOWEVER, it does not retain the last setting when I turn off the machine; it always restores the needle to its central "home" position. I cannot tell you how many times I sewed yards of pieces together with the wrong seam width because I sat down at the machine and forgot to reset the neede position when turning on the machine. (Now I place a piece of tape over the knob when I get up, to remind me the next time I sit down!) This is especially problematic for me when I can piece only sporadically rather than every day.

It would be really nice to be able to "instruct" the machine to retain your last needle setting. (I don't know if any machines actually do this.) All of the machines that do embroidery have the wider-set feed dogs, and most of the nicer new machines do embroidery, so I think it's pretty normal to have to adjust the needle position for a 1/4" seam. Having that as your "normal" setting would be really, really nice for us quilters!

I just bought an janome embroidery and the piecing is awsome.
I don`t know if the model you want has a cloth guide but if it does its great.
I use it and set the needle 3 positions over for scant and use the !/4 foot better than my phaff!
Gale

I love my Janome 6600, my pieceing has improved greatly. But it has alot of bells and whistles that you may not need or want. the feet you buy are not expensive either.
You could look into the Juki 98Q, it is a work horse, industrial machine.simple straight stitching..solid,not plastic. 9" throat.and half the price of the 6600.
i would advise you to find a sew and vac dealer, where you can test drive the machines your thinking about. Bring a quilt sandwich with you, and go play with them.

In the early 90's I worked for a Bernina dealer who also did custom dressmaking and alterations to survive. I purchased three different machines from her. We used bernina machines in the shop to do the sewing for customers. I learned early on that the machines that did the biggest decorative stitches and then the ones that also did embroidery had the least stable straight stitch. When the 1630 came out that did the really wide decorative stitches I did not like working on it because it could sew in 16 different directions. To my "quilt" oriented mind that meant "wobble". I was able to purchase a 1260 with my employee discount. While it did lots of decorative stitches it was much more stable in the straight stitches I needed for quilting. I also own a Bernina embroidery machine but it is an entirely seperate machine that only does embroidery.
If you are only interested in piecing accurately look for a machine that does basically straight stitching.
I don't machine quilt anything bigger than crib or lap size as I am basically a handquilter.

Thanks so much ladies! Wow. I'm so glad to be a part of this forum. What a great community.

The Pfaff with the built in walking foot is the best ever! I've used other machines in our shop and this does the best job. Also, a single needle plate helps a lot,too. It keeps your fabric from being sucked down under.

I dont have a lot of expierience with many machines but I love my Viking Sapphire. It is an older model so not as expensive anymore. I paid 1100 new and it has come down alot from that price.
It is computerized, has a 1/4 in. setting and you can move the needle for a scant 1/4 in, which you will need to do on occasion.
It has a 10 in. throat which has become a necessity for me.
It also has needle down and that also is a necessity for me.
It has a drop in bobbin which is very easy to change even in the middle of sewing and filling a bobbin is easy too.
My only complaint is the throat is low so changing the foot is a hassle because your hand gets in the way.
I dont have a problem with it pulling the fabric to the side at the end of a seam either.