carolstickelmaier

I am considering purchasing a stitch regulator for a Sweet 16 sit down. Does anyone have any experience with one or idea what they cost. Four years ago when I bought mine I had heard they were kind of jerky in their movements so chose not to purchase at that time. Also is there another brand that works with it? Have you had any problems with one? Thanks for your input.

QuiltE

Have you tried using one at a dealer?

That'd be the best way to get the feel for it ... and whether it was something that would work for you.

Here in Canada they are about another $1000, beyond the S16 price, and no difference whether you buy it with the machine or as an after-purchase.

terri bb

from what i gathered from what i had seen last years quilt show, they are about a thousand or more and it's an add on thing that the fabric slips in to and it blinks. personally i did not like it but for some thats fabulous! good luck in your search!

carolstickelmaier

Thanks Quilt E. I bought it from a dealer who had no idea of how to work them and the other one near me has stopped selling them. Guess I will have to get on line somewhere and find the nearest dealer. Our local quilt shows don't seem to have dealers with sewing machines on display at the shows any longer. I had heard they were 800.00 and up and was wondering if there was another brand cheaper that would work on my machine.

QuiltE

I would think it is a dedicated thing for your machine and you will not find other brands, as it needs to communicate with the machine's computer system. Remember the price I gave you was the Canadian price, so yours might be different.

FYI the S16 os the same machine as the Babylock Tiara, so chances are you could use the regulator from it. It might also give you an option for a dealer closer to you that knows something about it.

Quite honestly, when I tried the machine and stitch regulator .... I loved the machine but not the stitch regulator. It seemed cumbersome to operate and quite honestly, I thought my practice work without was as good as or better than with it.

I shopped three dealers last spring ... in the end only one of them knew much about using the stitch regulator and even that one was not really promoting it. All of them were saying ... buy the machine and if you want it later, get it then.

Dolphyngyrl

I have the one for the babylock/brother DSM that is made by them and built the same as the one for the sweet 16, I know a few people on here have it. I am still getting accustomed to it, there are really no good tutorials on it and in the store they always make it seem so easy to use and gauge. I have found it to be quite a learning curve, and am still not certain i am going to keep it or sell it at this moment. It can cause jerky stitches if you suddenly change your speed drastically and it can't keep up ie speed up fast enough to compensate, so you still have to go a consistent speed, you can't just slow down and then really speed up. It is not what I quite expected and really am just still learning it

Kwiltr

If you check out the Yahoo Groups they have a Sweet Sixteen forum and you'll get some good feedback there. Any dealer I talked to about them didn't really push them. I didn't care for the way they worked and I tried them on a few demo machines at a couple of quilt shows. I've heard a lot of people say that with practice you get good enough that you don't need it. Handi Quilter also has some new DVD's out your can buy off their website specifically for the S16 that the forum members are all raving about, so you may find that of interest as well. I've seen a lot of second hand stitch regulators for sale for them here and there...people buy them and decide not to use them. Also, from what I've seen there isn't much of a price difference between the US and CDA on them, they run around $995 unless you catch a deal.