I have the Brother SE350 that I bought from WM 4 or 5 years ago. It is my favorite machine! I also have another Brother sewing/embroidery that I had purchased before the 350 model which I had liked at that time. It was the Disney model and used thread cassettes were sensitive to different threads. It is downstairs somewhere which I will probably dig out sometime and give to my granddaughter. Don't be intimitated by others about your machine. Just take some classes from you LQS about a technique you want to learn. As to learning about your machine, just play. I've had mine for years and sew daily. I still will discover something that I didn't know about my machine just by using it.

I agree. I can not afford an expensive machine so I bought a Singer Quilter costing on sale $300. It makes very nice quilts or is that me making the quilts. I am sure that I would make the same mistakes on an expensive machine as I do on my "cheap" one. I think this snobbery also extends to some owners of the high cost machine besides the LQS. It is the quilt maker and not the machine that make a good quilt. Just ignore negative comments or go to another shop. Or better still mention you experience to the shop owner to make her aware (unless of course the teach was the shop owner) .

I have a Disney Brother and went into a local quilt store and the clerk gave me the most hatelful look and was totally rude - left and never been back. Of course my Mother called the store and complained - taking care of her baby!

sorry double posted :)

You should have told her that if she would like to sell you a high end machine for the price you paid for the machine you could afford you will purchase it from her.

I,too, had problems with "snobbery" years ago. I bought a machine at a quilt show and had to travel for 2 hours to a dealer who would "show" me how to use the machine. He dd not want to sell me the accompanying notebook because I didn't really need it (a computerized model with lots of bells and whistles). When I asked him to show me how to make buttonholes with it he heaved a great sigh as if I were a stupid, recaltcitrant child. At that point, I got up and left. I never went back to that shop again and made sure my friends knew why.

This is why I avoid the sewing machine dealers in my area like the plague. A snobbish attitude is the norm. I know their business is a tough one, and I don't begrudge them making money. But there are ways to talk to people nicely, and then there are ways to make people feel small. I think many of the store owners have studied the latter. I will continue to buy online, research techniques online and in books and, of course, learn from this board. There's no harm in being self-taught!

I have 2 Brother machines and really like both of them. But I won't buy another Brother. When I was looking for software for my Brother embroidery machine I could not get any information or prices over the phone or internet. My "local" dealer - 90 miles away - said I would have to come into the shop. Dealers I located over the internet said I would have to go to my local dealer. Sorry, but I'm not driving 90 miles to find out everything they have is over my price range. I called a BabyLock dealer who is about 45 miles away. He was very helpful, had just what I needed in my price range, took my credit card number, and mailed me the software. I had it in 2 days. My next machine will be a BabyLock.

I can understand her having a fee for you not buying your machine from her, the shops around here do that too. What I don't understand is her talking your machine down. That is just plain rude.

I bought a Brother from WM because it had more features than my older Singer. After 3 years it needed repairs and I took it to shop that sold Brothers and other machines. I was told it would continue to be a money pitas far as repairs and she tryed to talk me into a used Singer that was actually older then the 1 I had! I let with my "broken" Brother and called the dealer I had bought 3 other Singers over the years. He said that the Singers had become a problem and went strictly to the Brother machines. He showed me different n\machines and I left with another Brother that was almost a clone for my lemon. I traveled 50 miles for the new one but it was worth it for the service he gave.(My old Singer still works like a dream)So imho if you don't like the service find a different dealer!