I agree with Charlee, you can find them a heck of a lot cheaper than $600 and they'll last you forever. Then with the leftover money, you can buy more fabric. LOL

Try Sew & Vac Direct or AllBrands.com. They have great deals on what you are looking for.

There's a straight stitch Janome 1600 . If you looked around a bet you could find one for about $600. I would never buy a used machine. I've seen the ugly things people do to their equipment in sewing classes. I bought the 6600 and I feel foolish for buying all the bells and whistles I'll likely never use. If I had to do it again, I'd go with the 1600.

I bought the Brother Quilt Club whith the large throat and just straight sewing. I could have saved my money and just used my old singer for straight sewing as it is the best. The difference being that the Brother has a needle down position and a perfect 1/4 foot and it's very fast. It also has several different feet for other sewing.

Since you only want a straight stitch machine, you should go for a vintage Singer 15-91 (or Singer 15-90).
They are easy to repair and clean all by yourself. There are lots of tutorials that can be found on you tube on cleaning and maintaining the machine.
Price is cheap. You can find these machines off CLs for under $100 and in a cabinet.
The harp space is large for working a queen or king size quilt.
The feed dogs can be dropped for free motion quilting.
The machine is all metal; so, it will last a life time or two or three. No plastic parts that will break on you.
And best part, the money left over from purchasing a Singer off CLs is that you will have money left over from your $600 allowance to purchase fabrics for quilts and/or purchase a FW to take to quilting classes.

I'm new to quilting. I recently purchased a Brother CS6000i because it was "Sew Affordable" and I could learn free-motion quilting on it. After one project I decided that I wanted a bigger machine. I researched all the big name brands and have decided that I'm not ready to spend thousands of dollars on a sewing machine just yet. Maybe someday. So after all that researching, I decided to buy the Brother PQ1500S. I just ordered it today from AllBrands.com. It's almost identical to the Juki 98 and both machines have outstanding reviews.

I plan to use the straight stitch machine for piecing and free-motion quilting and have my CS6000i for fancy stitches when needed. I think the Brother PQ1500S is a great buy. I say go for it!

Agree with Charliee, just can't beat a Singer 15-91! They are the best and save the rest of your money! You won't be sorry! The singer 15 is my favorite machine ever!

I bought a Juki TL2010Q (newer model of the 98) this past November for $900. It is AWESOME! I made 10 rag quilts and pieced 2 twin size quilts for Christmas. There is no way I could have done all of that in such a short amount of time without the Juki. It is so smooth and so fast! I have yet to learn to FMQ now that the holidays are over. I was able to go there and try it out for 4 hours. I also tried the Janome 1600p, but I liked the Juki better for a few reasons...a couple being of them being I found so many great reviews on this board and other sites and I love the way it looks (metal as opposed to plastic..I know it sounds silly).

I would say your top 3 choices would be between the Juki TL2010Q, Janome 1600p, and the Brother PQ1500S. I am sure they are all comparable to each other as far as being great high-speed-straight-stitch machines.

I was ready to purchase my Juki on line, but then I found a place about 1 1/2 hours from me, so I took the drive. It was well worth it to see it in person and actually sew on it. Good luck in your search and let us know what machine you buy and how you like it!

Janome 1600 P-QC. It is my favorite machine i own! I would give up my tin lizzie before i would give it up. It will so anything! I even it had it on my DH tailgate sewing his boat strap last summer. :)
Oh and it wont sew if you forget to put yout presser foot down, has needle up/down and cuts your thread.

I absolutely love my straight stitch only Juki 98Q. I use it almost exclusively for piecing and FMQ. I paid a lot more than $600, but you could maybe get a used one.