this maybe a silly question-can you sew on a mid arm quilting machine?
 

I'm thinking of investing in something like a hq sweet 16 or a tin lizzy 18. Hubby gets annoyed when I buy single purpose things. So if I could actually sew with it also I can have one my point in my favor. (it's not a matter of hubby approving all purchases, it a major purchase and relative large so we both have to agree to it. He does the same with me when he makes a big purchase)

I've been looking around the different websites and haven't seen anything about it so I thought I'd ask you all.

And do you have any positive or negatives about either of these machines?

do these machines have feed dogs?

The machines like the HQ Sweet Sixteen and the Tin Lizzie do not have feed dogs. So far as I know, none of the mid arm machines do. Therefore, you are limited in what you can do as they are designed specifically for Free motion quilting.

Theoretically, you could do some straight stitch sewing on them, but you have to move the fabric yourself, so you need to be really good at managing your stitch length since you would be FMQ all seams and the pieces need to be large enough for you to be able to get a grip on them while they're under the needle since there are no feed dogs to move the fabric. I've seen a couple of tutorials where people are using them in very limited ways for some piecing but you really have to be very good at Fmq to get good seams with consistent stitch lengths if you want to use them to stitch a seam.

Since you want a machine that you can Use for regular sewing and has a larger harp for FMQ, have you thought about the high end domestics like:

the Bernina 7 or 8 series, the Viking Sapphire series, The Brother Dreamweaver and the Babylock equivalent, or the Janome 7700, 8200, 8900, or the Elna equivalents. These machines all have 10" and 12" throats, regular sewing stitches as well as lots of decorative stitches and all do a good job at FMQ according to reviews I've seen. Many of them can be purchased new for the same amount of money, or less than the HQ Sweet Sixteen.

A lot of us here on the board have larger straight stitch only machines like the Brother PQ1500s, the Juki 2010' etc. these machines have feed dogs and are straight stitch only machines. They also do a beautiful job of FMQ and have a harp that is 9" to the right of the needle and 7" high which gives plenty of room for quilting most quilts once you learn how to manage the bulk.

All that said, if it were in my budget and if I had space for another machine, I'd love to have one of the sit down (move the fabric) quilters like the HQ Sweet Sixteen or the new one that Juki makes with an 18" throat, or the APQS George. I've played with all of those and because of the much higher space in the throat, they have much better visibility around the needle than do any of the large domestics, which helps cut down on neck tension if you're doing things like ruler work where you have to see behind the needle-- with those machines you don't have to crane your neck around the machine to see behind the needle. To me that would be the main consideration for buying a mid arm, which to my mind would eliminate the Tin Lizzie--- as I recall it doesn't have the vertical space that the others have.

Rob

I have the 2010 but would love a 16" sit down just for quilting. Even though it is a single use machine, I think there would be a huge advantage to have a dedicated quilter machine. As long as I didn't pile stuff up on it, I always have tops that need sandwiching and quilting.

A lot of the new sewing machines have nice large harps that accommodate quilting but they are not cheap. They are also a bit more difficult to wrangle a large quilt through and it is more difficult to do ruler work on them. I have a Baby Lock Crescendo that I use for some quilting and I have a Sweet 16.

As already stated, there are straight-stitch machines with a larger harp space but you still have to wrangle the larger quilts through the opening.

One thing you might tell him about single use items. When something is made to do one thing and one thing only, it usually does it really, really well. Kind of like my 301a. It only does straight stitch, but it does a really nice straight stitch. Personally, I prefer some single use items just for this reason. Sewing machines (not unlike other things made to do several things) often do them fairly well, but not really well ;)

PS. I learned that from my DH originally and found that he's right.

Hmmm. Does he have any single-purpose tools or items that you could use to make a point? Things such as a fishing rod, table saw, golf clubs, lawn mower, bowling ball, etc? These all have a single purpose. While a midarm doesn't fall into the category of multiple purpose, it does fall into the category of multiple uses. You could quilt 500 quilts with it.

Do you already have a domestic machine with a large harp of at least 10"? If not, I highly recommend one (I use a Janome 8200) and it can handle a lot of fabric; it does wonderful FMQ, has lots of decorative stitches, does garment sewing because it has an arm, and doesn't take up much space.

I might eventually want a midarm, but so far this one suits the type of quilting (and sizes) I like to do. You really have to know yourself and your interests before you consider a big purchase.

I have a HQ Sweet 16 and currently using it to interline open areas of a cut work and white work linen table cloth with very fine batiste cotton before sandwiching up for quilting. (Lots of swirls and eyelet filled ribbons but some straight line areas). I am only doing this on the HQS16 because the cloth is too big to fit in my DSM.

Even though I am using a fine thread and needle, the stitch quality on the back isn’t as quite as good as my DSM on such fine material. It seems to me (although I may be wrong) the quality isn’t there because it isn’t sewing through a quilt sandwich, there are no feed dogs and this is not a "sewing machine".

A mid-arm takes up space, and takes money! I bought the HQS16 because I have the space; it was a treat to myself for a milestone birthday; I enjoy the quilting more than piecing and I already had a newish DSM that was small enough and light enough to take with me to workshops.

So lots to consider. Hope this helps.

HettyB

rryder makes a very very good point! I have the Babykock Journey, probably more machine than you want as it also has an awesome embroidery attachment, that has about an 11 1/2 " throat. It is very easy to quilt with and I've done queen size quilts with ease. With a little bargaining I got it for $6000. List is $9000.