I have a designer se viking machine and I love it! I'm able to do all my quilting using the embroidery unit and I have done king size down to baby quilts. I highly recommend it!

Peggy I have a babylock esante 2 and love it! Also have a Babylock Elegante blg can upgrade it but am happy with the way it is ,,, my esante 2 had for 16 yrs and elgante for 4 yrs and all I can say it love them both,, the elegante I can leave the emboridery board on while regular sewing and fmq ,lateral sewing ect the lists can go on and on and it will tell u when thread is broken even on bobbine and self threader and cutter and even the designs u can use ur g-childrens to sign on screen and embroidery thiers names or whatever out u can get the gold pack warranty on them ,,, but it depend on what make u happy my dealer I have love them both u can test drive these machine and think it over before purchasing such expensive machine .. but I also love brother and what most doesn`t know babylock is brands of singer so test drive these machine and do what make you feel comfortable with and good luck on what you choose ..

I'm gonna watch this thread for the thin chance I will ever have the money for an embroidery machine!!!

I have a Babylock Elegante 2 and I love it.

I love my Bernina but I really like my Janome too.

This is my next purchased! Its a brother

I have a Pfaff Creative Vision. Love, Love it. It does everything but cook suppeer. My last 3 machines have been Pfaff's. I keep wanting to upgrade. I don't think I could ever buy another brand. Of course our dealer is the best and she has a great repair man. The kind of service and lessons are something to consider when you buy a machine. If they aren't gonna teach you about the machine then they shouldn't sell them.

I bought a Bernina Artista 180 several years ago and I guess it was a total lemon. The first year I had it, it was in the shop more than I had it, including a trip back to the factory. I have been told there is nothing wrong with it and everything is adjusted right, but it still won't embroider without messing up. When I try to sew with it, it sounds like the bobbin case is coming out the side, but again "there's nothing wrong with it." I don't think I will ever buy another Bernina.

Bernina,can't say any more!!

I just purchased the BabyLock Ellisimo a couple weeks ago and I LOVE it! As a matter of fact, I just now came home from an embroidery class where we learned to embroidered jeans. It was soooo much fun. The pic below is of peacock feathers going up one side of the leg. Did I say I LOVE the Ellisimo? (I still have the basting to take out around the design).

I love my brother machine. I really think Bernina name has been to big and people just buy because they think its great. I love the brother as I can take it a class for sewing and doing the embroidery.

Very pretty

love my babylock elissimo

Be sure to make sure you have the hoop size you want. Also make sure if the updates are free or cost. I have 2 husqvarna vikings and LOVE the quality but hate that you have to pay for the updates. I have had excellent customer service from them.
Good luck.

I have had embroidery machines for quite a few years. I started with a Janome MC9000 and then bought the Janome MC10000. I still have the Janome 10000 but since have purchased the Brother embroidery only PR620 and the Brother Quattro 6000D. I have had no problems with any of these machines and they are all well used. I like the user friendliness of the Janome and Brother brands and I have good service agents for both brands.

If you have not previously owned an embroidery machine
you should search out a good dealer near you who will give good backup service. Also the other thing is that the machine embroidery hole is a huge one. The costs only begin with the machine. After the machine comes, thread, bobbin fil, stabilizers, software and designs, also extra attachments not included with the machine.

I have justified my sewing / quilting / machine embroidery habit with the fact that I don't drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, but my husband thinks it may be cheaper if I did.

Here's something to think about. Local sewing machine store told me that Kenmores sold by Sears were made by Janome. Almost identical but without all the fancy "eye candy" and at a much lower price. You can get a higher grade Kenmore for the same price as a lower model Janome!

This is a common misconception here it seems. Janome and Sears are two different companies. Kenmore and Janome build similar machines with usually the same specs. at the same factory. You should consider which company you want to deal with for customer support and warranty issues.

Kenmore is a Sears brand, but Kenmore doesn't actually build anything. Just as my Kenmore Elite range was actually made by Electrolux, Janome has made the recent Kenmore sewing machines, though this may be changing in the near future. It is true, however, that one would have to deal with Sears for support for the Kenmores.

I,ve had two Brother, Disney machines and Two Babylock.
They look identical however, they are made by different compaines.
I would stick with the Babylock because the service is by far better that Brother.
I had problems with both Brothers and was costly to repair.
I still have one and do like it but woud buy another Babylock in a heartbeat.
I did machine embroidery for 12 years and this is MHO.

This is the one I'm considering buying. I have 2 other Brother machines (both purchased at Wal-Mart), the oldest one is 16 years old (my husband uses it) and the other one is about 4 years old. I love them both and haven't had any trouble from either of them.

It's too bad you aren't in Northern IL - I am selling my Janome 10001 for $1800 with 3D Embroidery Studio, the extension table, and a ton of floppy disks (really - hundreds of disks!)The machine takes the older 256mb Compact Flash, but your designs are usually on the computer anyway. You just need a memory card reader that allows CF. I am selling it only because I just don't need 2 embroidery machines taking up space. The Janome was great to take to class since you don't have a big bulky embroidery attachment to haul!

I started with the Babylock Ellure Plus because I wanted usb capable. I got a used Babylock Ellegante and really could tell the difference from the bottom line embroidery machine and the more expensive model.

I wanted a machine to cut jump threads, combine designs and text, a thumb drive, color screen, and a bigger hoop than the 5 x 7. The Ellegante is great, just older! Find out what you want from the embroidery machine first, and again find a dealer you can trust.

I am glad others have mentioned about the additional cost involved - wow! First thread and stabilizers, designs of course, and some of those designs take an hour to finish with 20 changes of thread!

I just gave my nephew a small quilt with machine embroidered nautical applique(he is in the navy, and another to my sister with a large garden gate embroidery design in the center. (The Ellegante also does well with quilting).

Best wishes on your search.

I started out with a Janome 350E and loved it but wanted to upgrade. Now I have a Janome 11000 MC and it's wonderful. Both easy to use. My friend has had 3 Brothers and she has had each of them in the shop numberous times. Never had my 350E in the shop other than annual cleaning and when I bumped my hoop with my chair (not something you want to do LOL) and it was used like a commericial machine. My 11000 MC is like a cadillac to me and is well worth it's money. Every time my friend has got to take her Brother to the shop for repair I think how grateful I am because my machines have pretty much been worry free.

I have two Brother ULT's 2100 and a 2300. They use a floppy disk and also a card. I had the brother 150 for a long time but wanted to go up to a larger embr. size. so mine does a 4x4, 5x7 and 6x10. When you start to purchase a machine think ahead for the future because they do last a long time.
with the three sizes of embr. designs you can do a lot of things with it. I really like mine I purchased mine used. One from a Brother dealer and the other one from an person.
Good Luck

I was a Viking girl through and through. One of my machines that I still use quite often is 15 year old Viking...

That is until I got a used Babylock Ellegante. Didn't think I'd be but I'm in love. I won't look back now. It's an embroidery work horse and sews like a dream. I have family that have the Brother Quattro which is the same machine with minor changes. They really enjoy that as well.

Have a brother innovis 1200 and love it, also bought a brother serger because of the embroidery machine it does a great job. Also make sure the dealer is customer oriented. My dealer is great its usually operator error when I've had to bring it in and he's never charged me.

I love my Bernina.

my sister and i both bought the brother pe770 and love it. i am also using the free download Design era software. It was difficult to figure out at first but I am finally getting the hang of the software. it does fine. the machine does beautiful work and is easy to use. the automatic needle threader fell off but it is easy to thread with out it.

I also have a Brother1500D I also have 2 Janomes which I love one is 6600P and a small cheaper one for workshops.

I love my bernina sewing and embroider machine