Need some "oh sew wonderful" help!!!!
 

I've had my New Home sewing machine for almost 25 years, it still sews good but doesn't have a free motion foot attachment...while talking to my husband about my problem, he asks me which machine I would need to be able to do this...WHAT??? Yeehaw, a wonderful Christmas present, but I have no idea where to start...I know I want to be able to FMQ and a bigger throat area than my current machine...Which machine do youns love for quilting and sewing???

I love my Bernina with the BSR, everyone told me that I couldn't go wrong with a Bernina, it's an investment but IT IS SO NICE!!!!

Brother 1500 S has a nice size throat space and does FMQ well. It's a straight stitch only, mechanical machine that you can pick up brand new for $600 including an extension table, walking foot, FMQ foot, 1/4 inch foot and a couple of others. Many folks on the board have them set up on a frame. I use mine every day for all kinds of sewing and love it.

Of course, you will get 1000 suggestions. It's like the Ford vs. Chevy debate. Everyone has an opinion but both are nice vehicles.

You need to determine how big the quilts are going to be to decide how big the 'throat' space is you will need. For larger bed size quilts I would suggest at least a 10" throat. I've quilted a queen on a Bernina 153 QE and my shoulders and back were killing me by the time I was finished over a several day period. I don't know what size dsm has that size throat.......take some research for you to do.
Machine brands: I own a Babylock, Bernina, and Necchi plus a Gammill Class+.

Purchase the best quality you can for what you can afford to pay!

If you establish a price range first, that will make suggestions more useful.

Edit: I am also wondering what you mean by a free motion foot attachment. I think most of the vintage machines are capable of taking a hopping foot or, at the very least, a darning foot. Both of those are used for free motion quilting. If the machine's feed dogs don't drop, they can be covered with a credit card and actually some people find it easier to FMQ with the feed dogs up (just being sure to turn stitch length to zero).

I vote for Babylock Crescendo!

stitchquick
 

you alway get midlong sew machine like a bailey 13 ", or 15" , or 17 " address is baileysquiltcenter

Sorry...don't do machine quilting. But, my basic advice is always make up a spreadsheet of your 'needs'/'wants'. See what machines fit into those parameters and go from there. Obviously $$ is a concern but just make that a line item in your spreadsheet. Then go test driving. And take your own samples. Don't rely on the store samples. Take piecing samples as well as quilting samples. Only you can decide what works for you/your budget. Personally I'm a Viking girl and love mine. But that's just me.

I had always wanted a Bernina! but now that I have a Janome 6500 I'm very satisfied and will not be getting the top of the line of bernina. They cost way too much and you have to buy all new feet for each machine! What a bummer when you realize this! The janome has a big throat and all the stitches that a quilter would dream of having!

I have a New Home that is older than that and I have a free motion foot for it. I probably bought it from my Janome dealer. I use this old machine for everything. Wouldn't trade it in for anything.

Look at the juki machines they all have larger throats than bernina's. There is a beautiful machine which sings whistles but fails to make a drink.

I have an old Janome(New Home) memory craft 4000 which is 20 years old and I have the darning foot it came with the machine, but I can still buy replacement feet from dealer. If you want a new machine and to keep your old one as a back up and you are used ot Janome, why don't you look a the new memory craft 8900, it has an 11" harp . I have also FMQ on a cheap toyota with a fairly small harp, just a bit fiddly, try out different machines and see which one 'fits' you best.

you already have a Janome that works for you so go check out the new Janome's You can't go wrong.

I have the Bernina with BSR also. I love it! Even beginners don't have to worry about their stitches with the BSR. It is an investment, but so worth it. All metal parts and bobbins. Best money I ever spent!!

Check out the Janome 7700. Big harp area. Great for machine quilting. Under $2,000.00 in my area. I have 2 janomes and love them both.

Don't tell your husband but there are generic free motion foot attachments !!

I bought the Janome 8900 this summer. It is a great machine, and has the 11 inch harp space. It is heavy, sews a beautiful stitch, has many extra feet, and has a wonderful selection of stitches. It is very easy to use. This was my first Janome. I have a Bernina, a Brother 1500, a Singer Featherweight, a White, and a BabyLock serger. I love them all. I always go to the Brother for piecing. It just sews the straight stitch, but it does a great one, and has scissors built in. I love quilting on the new Janome. It has everything to do the best quilting. I seem to only use my Bernina for embroidery. Try out as many different machines as you can. You will find one you love.

What a loaded question. You will get more answers than you probably will be able to comprehend. Pages of replies more likely.

I am a dedicated Pfaff used due to arthritis in my hands. I bonded with the machine. Have had other brands and they all were very good. Just that the IDT [dual feed] is best for me.

There are sew many nice machines out there it is hard to say! Try and check out all the features you can. Congrats!!!!

LOL, thank you so much for ideas for things to look for, honestly just had no idea where to even start. I do have a free motion quilting foot, just have no idea where I got it. It attaches like a regular foot, but flops around a lot so catches and breaks needles...

Looked up some dealerships to go look at sewing machines...none in my town, nearest locations about 3-4 hrs away:( Oh well, might have to go on a weekend trip, heehee!

Thats a bummer, make sure you take a notebook so you can jot down what you like and don't like in the machines you try out. Everything as pros and cons, and everyone has different brands and models they love. If you have a good budget the babylock crescendo/ brother dreamweaver really are amazing machines. and I recommend demo at least one, they are essentially the same but brother has the my custome stitch feature. They are quite pricey but well worth the extra money IMHO. The straight stitch brother and jukis are also very popular as is the juki F-600 if I didn't have my baby I would have eventually looked into one of these for FMQ as well but dreamy won me over hands down

But can you buy a FMG/darning foot first? Just to give it a try before you spend the big bucks? Make sure you even like to do FMQ??

I quilt on either a Baby Lock Jane or Juki TL98QE, both straight stitch only machines with 9" throats. I love them both.

I wondered if I was the only one sold on Viking. I got a Designer I that had been a tradein a long time ago and I love it. Just bought the Viking 100Q to take to classes. Ask who/where the warranty work is done, where is a repairman. I had bought the Singer 70 in honor of Joanns 70 yrs. It was an order from the net. Got it and the paperwork inside said warranty work had to be sent to Florence, SC. Another in my class had a Singer from Wally World she was having problems with, it was under warranty, and yes, she had to ship it. From the start the Singer 70 had problems. Motor still hummed after I took my foot off the pedal. I did send it back to Joanns. I couldn't take it to the store. Joanns was very good about taking it, no hassle, sent me the paperwork to FedEx it at their expense. But, I learned my lesson. Take something to sew on what you are shopping for. Know how/where the warranty work is handled. Listen to it as you sew. Nothing has been smoother than my Vikings and I like that. And, happy shopping.

While browsing, found this site for sewing machine reviews. Always remember this is for suggestions only and is someone's personal opinion. The best experience as others have pointed out is to test drive as many as possible in your area.
http://www.erinsayssew.com/

I love my Juki. It only straight stitches, but it FMQ like a dream. I think it was in the $1000 range.

I love my Brother in-novis Quilt Club. It has automatic tension control and does fmq beautifully. Also has a wide throat. A big plus is it has all the fancy stitches too, which I find I do use. Some other bells and whistles too. I've even been able to design my own stitch and store it in the memory. Can also mix stitches together.

If you want a sit down FMQ machine, check out www.sunshine16.com. The machine is just for FMQ and has a 16" throat. You can get the portable machine (which can be placed on any sturdy surface and used) or with it's own table. It is comparable to the HQ Sweet 16, the Baby Lock and several other machines in quality, but is much more affordable. Since I already had my Berninas and can't stand for long periods of time to use a long arm, this was the best option for me.

I googled "sewing machine comparison chart" and there are several references to different machines and their abilities.

A wise person (quilter extraordinaire) once told me that if I was buying a new or new-to-me machine, I should try to get one that can be worked on locally .... that is, one that has a repair person near by just in case. Beyond that I have a Pfaff Grandquilter that is great and the Juki is similar and gets rave reviews also. They only straight stitch but they can stitch up to something like 1200 or more stitches per minute so that when you get good, you can really go to town! lol The Pfaff has a thread cutter button, needle up/down button, knee lift, speed control slide, and a needle threader among other things. The harp area is larger than a regular machine and although they like to drink oil, there is not much to go wrong on them as they are not computerized. Good luck with your hunt. It can get very confusing "out there".

I have a New Home that is about 27 years old. It is a mechanical sewing machine. I have free motioned quilted with this machine for years. You buy a generic darning foot, or hopping foot, or big foot pick your favorite. All you do is lower the feed dogs, and make your stitch length very tiny.

My vote would be for a Janome 8900. It does have an 11" throat and those extra couple inches really make a difference imho. However, you need to decide what is best for you, so I would say like so many others have, go out and test drive and talk to lots of dealers. Then, of course, you need to let us know what you decided on and this should be a very good Christmas.

Thanks for all the good info, some of you think like my husband, heehee, he wanted me to make sure that whatever we purchased could be worked on locally. So, off to the repairman today to ask questions. He is also the same person that sold me my New Home machine. Gonna see if he is still selling Janome, and to ask again about the FMQ/darning foot. There wasn't one with my machine, I think the one I have was given to me by my friend that had a Kenmore machine, it doesn't work on the New Home, lol...

Me, too! Mine gets a workout doing all kinds of sewing and FMQ. Purrs like a kitten, loves any kind of thread, and has an 11.25 inch throat with a red laser guide light.

After a quick trip to the "repair" shop for info, his wife (they run the business together :) found a FMQ/darning foot that fits my New Home sewing machine...so decided to give it a try :)