I have to disagree with the "slow stitch speed" claim about the vintage Singer. I have a Singer 201 that was stretched by Wow to 18" and it stitches as fast as my Brother 1500 - or about 1500 stitches per minute. It performs much better on a frame than my 9" Janome 1600DB ever did.

Personally, rather than spending money on stretching my regular machine I'd go with a Bailey machine, they have a 13", 15" and 17" and from everything I've heard about them, they have a good reputation. The Bailey will be the machine I get when I have the room.

WOW what a great idea.

This sounds really great. I agree it would be better to use a high end machine; especially since it cost 2000 to stretch it. I looked all over their website and they talk several places about how great they are but "no where" do I see anything about them guaranteeing what they do. I'm sure at the very least if you have a warranty on your machine it would void that warranty. Plus, are the changes going to make the machine more difficult to get serviced. These are just a few things that I wonder about. I have a Viking Mega Quilter that would be great at 18" but at what cost; above and beyond the 2000 that they do charge.

OMG for $2000 think I would just stick to fighting with my little brother

I never heard of "stretching" your machine. I own the Brother 1500 and it's just sitting under its cover. I haven't used it enough to say that I love it. I do love my other every day Brother that I bought years ago.

They charge $2000.00 to stretch your machine.I'm sure you could find a good mid arm machine for that amount of money.And they don't stretch the height.Soquilting a queen or king would be out of the question.After it is rolled a few time it will be too thick to go through the machine.But to help that you can turn the quilt around by unpinning then repining.No this won't work for very long.And for $2000.00 just buy something designed to do what you want from the get go.Jerry rigging stuff never works for very long.I can get down the road on a pair of roller skates,but a Caddie would be better.

That is what I was thinking and you are practicly in Bailey's back yard so you should be able to go and try them.

I am on a Juki chat group. I would have second thoughts about this after reading comments from people that had them done. Early messages praised their service, but then, there were many negative reviews and frustrated customers who described what went on with each of their WOW streched machines and poor service. Barbara from MA

Interesting. Never even knew "stretching" could be done. Every day I learn something new on this board! That said, like someone else mentioned, for that price I'd get a Bailey's (which I hope to do someday) and then I'd still have my non-stretched sewing machine.