HELP! Which sewing machine should i buy for home quilting????
 

Im new at quilting and i really need some advise from you guys. I currently own a brother lx2500 sewing machine and im planning on buying a new one this week. I have a king and a twin size quilt top that i want to quilt myself at home and i refuse to send it out to get them done and i really need advise on which sewing machine i should buy to be able to quilt at home at least the twin ones. My budget is up to $300.
I dont know the difference of sewing machines or what i really need to be looking for when i want to buy one. I was looking at the hsn ones with flex payments but i dont want to buy something and then wont work.
I will only be using it for quilting and fixing some clothes.
I hope you can help me
and thank you in advance.

Go to your dealer and see if he has any gently used ones. I love my janome 8900, but it was more than $300.

Vanessa Williams on Craftys tells of a cheap workhorse that she has been using and now has three, that she uses for heavy work and leaves her more expensive computerized one for other work.

If you are looking to quilt larger quilts on a domestic machine, you really only need a straight stitch for stitch in the ditch and piecing, and the ability to use a darning foot with feed dogs down. Other than that, look for the biggest harp you can find.

I would look at the brother 1500 they run about 500 but they are straight stitch and larger harp. It will be hard to find a larger harp for 300 than another machine that will be the same size as your current brother. Have you tried doing it in sections on your brother and splitting the batting. Craftsy has a class quilting on small machines by ann petersen, the classes are currently on sale. I love ann petersen, might be worth trying out if you can't afford a larger machine.

Vintage Singer 301 would be my choice. You can't buy a new machine that will hold up to free motion machine quilting for $300.

I bought my sewing machine in January 2013 sight unseen, only having researched online, as I was just starting to learn to quilt and had never used a machine before. It's a Janome Magnolia 7318, and I paid $250 for it plus a few extra feet and accessories. I got a generic walking foot and darning foot ($15 each?) a couple months later when I realized I needed them and I've fmq'd up to a queen size quilt on it. It has a 4.5in throat, is not computerized, can drop feed dogs, roughly 18 decorative stitches?, and I've used all different kinds of thread without complaint. I'm now doing some free motion embroidery with a small hoop on it too! So it's been a good machine for me :) I wasn't ready to invest a ton of money into something I wasn't sure I'd stick with, but I'm pretty bitten now so we'll see! It does not have the needle down function, but I'm in the habit of turning the handwheel to put it down anyway so it's fine for now.

When quilting on a domestic machine, one of the biggest problems is squishing enough quilt under the machine's arm. You can get around this problem by quilting in sections. My favorite method is to split the batting into 3 pieces, remove the two side pieces of batting, then quilt just the center section first. This reduces the bulk that has to go under the machine arm. This book describes several different methods of preparing a quilt to make quilting on a domestic machine easier:
http://www.amazon.com/Marti-Michell-...dp/B0002J5GX0/

For a budget of $300, I agree with going to nearby dealerships and asking about used machines. You can get more machine for your money that way. What you are looking for is a machine with a strong motor that will be able to handle the thickness of a quilt sandwich (weak motors can get bogged down). Make up some quilt sandwiches to take along with you so you can test how well the machine sews on layers. You want a machine that has these features: ability to drop the feed dogs, ability to set stitch length to zero, a darning foot and/or hopping foot (for free motion quilting), and a walking foot for straight lines. A walking foot made specifically for the machine is better than a generic walking foot.