Quiltingboard Forums - and the winner is!

ok some of you know that my long time friend, Singer Touch & Sew sort of went belly up on me a few days ago. I still have hopes that just maybe it can be fixed but so far I have not heard good news on it.

Anyway, I started a search for what I think is the best machine for the money. These were my absolute "need to have" options that had to be on the new replacement machine.

1. the throat CAN NOT be any smaller then 7"
2. it had to have more then straight & zigzag stitches
3. had to have quilting capabilities as well as normal dress making abilities

anything beyond these things were an added bonus to me and I can deal with each bonus as need be.

After spending several days online searching for the right machine I got really frustrated because most of the machines that seemed to fit what I wanted did not show the throat depth. Or the ones that did show the depth were quilting only with very little else going on with them. Those were priced so high that I would not even want to go look at them. Why would anyone spend that much money for a machine that pretty much is good for doing one job? No not me, I wanted more out of the machine I get.

So, I decided to take that long ride into town. I goggled all the sewing places I could find within a hundred mile area. Then set a path to do a complete circle and drove to all locations and checked out each machine in every store. Off I went with pad, pencil & ruler. Oh my goodness, what a shock I got. Not only are all those nice looking machines expensive but the throat depth is only between 5 and 6 1/2". What a disappointment they were.

I would like to know when the standard size for the throat depth became 5 1/2"? This is so ridiculous, how dose one sew in a space that small?

I only found 2 machines that would even come close to being my new replacement. One was a Viking on sale for $999 and a Baby Lock for $1010. Now comparing the 2 machines was not hard at all. The Baby Lock had it beat hands down. The biggest reason is that although the Viking had a 10" throat and was a few bucks cheaper it did not come with any of the quilting feet, (an extra $139) nor did it have as many features. I have a Viking Designer 1 and I'm not impressed with it, the only reason I bought it was it was second hand, didn't cost that much and I only use it for embroidery.

So with all this said, my new friend is called Melody by Baby Lock.
I was so tired by the time I got home I fell asleep reading the book that came with her so I have not set her up yet. But she will be ready to roll in the morning.