Need advice on a new machine quilting/embroidery.
 

I have a question for you all. I have a Janome 10001. I love it but I am willing to upgrade to another brand if I can get what I want. I am looking for a sewing/embroidery machine that is capable of quilting (large harp) and has embroidery with the largest field without splitting a design. Right now I am limited to 5 x 7.

Thanks so much for your input :)

Cindy in TN

I too would be interested, as I am looking at upgrading, in the uk the brother innovis v7 seems to tick the boxes, but I'm not sure whether to get that or whether to get a Juki for quilting and a separate embroider machine so will be interested in replies.

I have been looking into the Baby Lock Elissimo Gold. The lady who teaches on this machine absolutely loves it. She says it does dummy proof embroidery. I would love to get a demo on it, but I think they cost at least $7500. That's a lot of embroidery! She also does quilt blocks on it. I have a Bernina 180 Artista that does beautiful embroidery, but I am limited to 5 x 7 as well.

I suggest you look for a stand alone embroidery machine that suits your needs. I have two such machines and along with a sewing machine and a serger. My first embroidery machine is a Bernina and the second a Brother. Both use the same format which is PES. I have a small fortune tied up in designs for them. I am able to work on a sewing project while the embroidery machine or machines do their thing. I guess I am just to lazy to have to tear down and set up the "sewing machine' just for sewing every time I want to make something. I confess I use variegated thread in the embroidery machines when it works for my project just to have to keep from constantly changing thread. When it stops to have a thread change I just flip the lever up and down and it goes on. While I am lazy that way I am very productive. I make at least 21 Linus quilts a month and have also gotten into making the Princess Pillowcase dresses. I usually produce at least 20 of them a month. I was able to purchase extra larger embroidery hoops for both of my embroidery machines. I believe I got them from Nancy's Notions.

I do like the Ellissmo Gold. I am wondering if there is anything comparable to it or better. I want to look at a Pfaff. HV Diamond is also nice but out of my budget.

Thanks for the info. I had looked at the six thread machines but the truth is I would like to get a combo machine. I think I would get more use out of it if it meets all the requirements.

Brother dreamweaver is awesome the embroidery features are not as nice on the ellisimo but the sewing quilting features are nicer. Large harp, muvit foot which far surpasses any walking foot, the pen which helps align embroidery as well as aid in sewing. It is still expensive It is a step below the quattro or ellisimo, and the babylock version is the unity. It has a 7x12 large embroidery field, which I hope they will upgrade the hoops to 8x8 and 8x12 which I suspect they will somewhere down the line since they made them compatible, just not recognizable by the machine yet.

Why aren't you looking at the Janome 12000 or 15000???

janome girl all the way!
sandy

You should look at the Diamond Deluxe or the Viking Diamond Royale, it has the largest hoop around, an interchangeable walking foot that allows you to do so much more than regular walking feet do, large harp for a multi-purpose machine which is what you said you needed. I've had mine for a few yrs and have never had to adjust my tension due to the way the machine senses everything, including the thickness of fabric and then compensates for that. The deluxe is one step down from the royale and the stores have great prices on them. I bought mine and it was listed as slightly used from the Viking convention, I got it for about 1/2 price and it came with all of the same warranties, top of the line luggage and classes and lots more. I love my Viking, I've had this one and the Ruby and they are easy to use (I had never used one before) and alot of things I've figured out on my own. They come with the organizer software which allows you to view, sort and some editing of designs plus lots more. I ended up buying 5d Pro but it was nice not to have to do that in the beginning when it was all so new. Good luck with your search. See what all is in your area and test drive them and make sure you get a good feel for the store and how they interact, that is so important.