Sweet Sixteen Quilting Machine
 

Are any of you familiar with it? Do you have one and if you do what are the pro's and con's of this machine? What is the price range of it and where can it be purchased?

go to Handiquilter.com and you should be able to find specs and price range.they can be ordered from the website or at a dealer.that is all I know.

http://www.handiquilter.com/product/hq-sweet-sixteen/ starts at 5195.00

I have HQ Sixteen and I absolutely love it. A friend of mine has the Sweet Sixteen and loves it. Their customer service is outstanding. Highly recommend. The machines are easy to run.

went to Lancaster pa show sat at both sweet sixteen & tiara, lot of hands on, talked to both sales reps machines are the same (research online). sixteen was a little less, but tiara gave more extra's which brought their price up. I did like the tiara because of the quilt hoop with the stitch regulator, but by the time i'm able to buy the sixteen should also have the hoop, also dealer is next town over from me

I have one and LOVE it! I keep trying the new stitch regulator they have whenever I go to my dealer's store, but I don't really like it. If you're already used to fmq then it seems too choppy for me, and one more thing to think about. I did spend a couple of days working out the tension thing, but I just saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1mRhcquZTM and it resolved all my questions. I bought my dealer's demo and it was $32900 including some extra needles, bobbins, & 12 thread cones thrown in.

Oh, I forgot to add that I ended up also purchasing the overlay, it really helps with ruler work. I ordered a 36" Q-Snap rail for the front edge to help keep drag to a minimum http://www.qsnap.com/ (you have to call them to order) for under $10 incl. shipping, which is what I attached the overlay to my machine bed with. I didn't want to mount it permanently. It still wasn't quite slick enough, so I took the advice of many, and ordered a can of "Sullivans Silicone Spray". Now everything has come together and I'm really enjoying it!

$32,900?!? Let me pick up my teeth! :o

I wonder if omaluvs2quilt means she has the HQ 16. The Sweet 16 doesn't have rials and is a sit down machine.

I have the HQ16 and love it. If I didn't have the room I'd definitely have gotten the Sweet 16! It also helps that I got a used HQ16.

$32.9...thousand??!?? I just bought a nice, new car for less than that! Oh my gosh!

my thought is that was a typo---with an extra zero--- $3290 is closer to the price of a used machine.

Sweet 16 is a sit-down, free-motion quilting machine where you move the fabric, not the head. I just brought one home today as a local quilter is a dealer and she is letting me try out the demo at my home. I am super excited, as I want to use it for my Fly Away Home quilt. Have some stuff to practice on. I have no interest in a long arm. You are working too far away from the action, and they are way too huge for me. These have a nice size table of their own and sell for somewhere around $4,000 - $5,000, sometimes less for a used one. Also, though it's bigger than a domestic machine, it doesn't take up a whole room the way the LA's do. Now I need to practice, practice, practice, and put together my big sandwich. Hope to use the church hall so I can stretch my sandwich out on big tables instead of crawling around on the floor to pin it together.

thanks for the laugh :) ;)

I have an HQ16 with a 12' table. I love it! I have had no issues with it, and had for several years. I paid around $10K for it new, and it came with the table as the "special" at the time. Well worth the $$ IMHO~

The 2 is a typo..$3900, and yes it's the sweet 16 sit down...sorry, didn't mean to cause heart failure, lol!

Other than the obvious advantage of having bigger harp space, are there other reasons the Sweet 16 or other sit-down machine is better than a domestic machine?

I have a sweet 16 and I love it. The Babylock and Handiquilter Sweet 16 are the same machine with different labels. You should decide on which dealer you like best and what deal they are offering. If you have experience with FMQ on a domestic machine you will do fine without the stitch regulator. I bought mine before the regulator came out, and I tried using a regulator at a shop this weekend, and I definitely do better work without it.

Dealers vary greatly in their prices, from $4500 - 5500 plus another $900-1000 for the regulator. That can include a wide assortment of goodies, depending on the dealer.

Pam

She forgot the decimal point. The sweet sixteen is around 4,000-5,000 depending on where you get one. My dealer told me she would match the show special. I did order it from her because I wanted to have service locally. I love my machine. I would recommend that you purchase the open toe foot and horizontal thread holder.

I just got the Tiara, with the slider, silicon mat on sale for $5200.Including RI taxes of 7%. I love it. It is a self quilting sit down machine. Hope this helps.Mary

Sweet 16
 

I read QB daily, but never post. Love reading and learning from everyone on this board. I just had to post about my experience with the HQ Sweet 16 (no stitch regulator). I absolutely loved mine, but after having it about 6 months, I sold it when we moved to another state. I cannot tell you how much I miss the machine and could kick myself for selling it. Quilting on it was a dream and I had no issues whatsoever with it. The largest quilt I did on the SW16 was a queen size. I had more than ample room to work and the stitches were beautiful. I highly recommend it. I did have a mid size long arm for a while and much prefer the sit down Sweet 16 setup. I am hoping to one day be able to buy another Sweet 16.

I have the sweet six teen also I do love mind too. Mine came with the stitch regulator. But I don't use it I can go faster without it. Where do you buy the silcon spray at ?

HA! That is 3 TIMES the price of our first house!!!!

stitchquick
 

i think anyone can afford a sweetsixteen is bless becauesi want one so bad will say a pray for me today is my " b" day want,n get that unless someone give me so money !

I have one. Love it. Bought both extensions and it measures 72 X 30 with both 18" extensions. Also the height is adjustable. The extensions help so the quilt doesn't drag. They will fold down when not in use.
Also got the stitch regulator but hate it. I just don't use it. My fmq is getting better with practice. total abt 6000
I understand there is another sit down machine out there with a lesser price tag.
The sweet 16 is the sit down model and the Handiquilter16 is a long arm. Big difference in price.

Did you mean $3290 and accidentally added an extra zero? My Innova didn't even cost that. :)

I just bought mine 2 weeks ago at my dealer's truck sale (the HQ truck was offloading machines into cars that day!). Price after tax was less than $5,000. I did not get the table extensions as I don't have room to use them at this point. I also did not get the tru-stitch as I think of that kind of like training wheels and the price is high for something I might or might not use for a long period of time.

So far I'm very happy with the machine, but I've mostly worked next to it as I'm finishing piecing a top so that I can quilt it.

Cheers, K

I have had mine for about a year and love it. I didn't get the table extensions and just put up card tables on each side for a large quilt and it works fine. I have thought about the new stitch regulator but want to try it out before spending $1000. Based on the comments here, it sounds like it might not be the fabulous addition we might hope for. I have done small quilts and even king size. With the huge harp, it really doesn't matter how big the quilt it. And I just can't stand up for long periods any more so sitting to do this is the right thing for me. I needed a little help setting up and getting tension right in the beginning, but it has hummed ever since.

Lol...just fat fingers...$3900

I'm thinking she meant $3,290 because I saw it at the MN Quilt Show last summer and I think the price was around $5000 or $5500 with the stitch regulator.

I don't have one but have heard a lot of good things about it....If I had room I would like one...

OK you have one of what? We are talking HQ Sweet Sixteen.

Thats what I say! Mine just pretty much tried to fall out of my mouth. She must have something different than the Sweet Sixteen.

I have tried the Sweet Sixteen HQ. It is a sit down model with a big open space. A very big open space! It is fun and easy to use. there is a stitch regulator that comes with it but I absolutely did not care for it and was able to use it better without then with it. I did use small machinger quilting gloves. I did feel that the stitches looked nicer from my home machines a Janome 6500 and vintage Bernina 830. I ended up getting an Innova long arm. I really wanted soemthing that would take care of the basting and could handle very large quilts so I needed a machine on a frame. If you do smaller quilts that are just a little too large to comfortably handle on your home machine or you do not have space to put a machine on a frame then I think this might be a good machine for you.

Just ordered my Sweet Sixteen today. After investigations and trials went with dealer about hour away. It will ship to store and I will pick up. The basic unit with tax and shipping came in at just under $5000.

Yes, I have the Sweet 16...and it was $3900 out the door. Don't have the stitch regulatior...don't like it much the times I've tried it so far, but LOVE the machine.

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My local has a Sweet Sixteen set up in her shop and her price is $4200. That includes set up. I found one on the internet called a Baileys. I don't know much about them but the price is about $2000. They look like a regular sewing machine but you can handles and use them as a long arm. There are four set-ups you can get which raise the price up to about $6000, to a regular long arm size [like 10' long]. The less expensive one comes with a table. I may get one because that's more my price range. Has anyone heard of these?

There is a yahoo group for the Bailey machines which you may find helpful. The sit down table is a new thing for them. Someone on these forums had her husband build a really nice sit down table for her. Here's the link http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...e-t214113.html

I have a Sweet 16 with the stitch regulator and while I have not mastered the art of FMQ, this machine does make it easier. MSRP for the Sweet 16 with TrueStitch is $6400 or at least it was when I got mine. (Of course I did not pay MSRP) What I like is the small footprint. We don't have space for a regular longarm plus I cannot stand for any length of time. We ended up getting some IKEA cabinets on one side for extra storage and extra table space. Then DH attached a fold-up table from IKEA to the other side for extra space.

Are you aware that there is a Yahoo group for the HQ Sit Down Machine? You can get some great info there too.

HQ Sweet 16 is my dream machine....here they are very expensive....but soon as I have the money saved I'm off to get one. As MadQuilter mentioned they have a small footprint and are "sit-down", both requirements which are important to me. I have researched a number of machines and for me, it seemed the best value, has the best service/backup (for me - here), and appears to have less chance of needing a ridiculous amount of money spent servicing/repairing.

I would hope that is a type-o, LOL.