Sewze

I own a Viking Designer SELE . It sounds like the 'integrated platform is the FAB-U-Motion. They came with the 'stitch regulater' and without. Mine has the regulater. For the price you are being quoted, I would suspect that that one has the regulater. Having recently inquired on the price of the Saphire, I think you have a a good quote there, also. BTW, VIKING bought out PFAFF and SINGER a couple of yrs. ago...Hope this helps. Jinnie

brushandthimble

This is the one I want, and on sale you can find it for $1200. :wink:

Crafty1

I'm interested in this machine too but it doesn't have a free arm, but anyway, the dealers here want from $1700-$2000 for it. Why is it that NC seems higher priced than anywhere else :( Even when I say that other states or even board members get them cheaper they say nothing or roll the eyes...

brushandthimble

[quote=Crafty1]I'm interested in this machine too but it doesn't have a free arm, but anyway, the dealers here want from $1700-$2000 for it. Why is it that NC seems higher priced than anywhere else :( Even when I say that other states or even board members get them cheaper they say nothing or roll the eyes...[/quote

Is there a quilt show in your area? They usually have the best prices. Yhere is a local shop here that if you ask they will match the show price so you purchase from them. I have a back up machine so a I am not concerned with a free arm.

bitty39

I suggest you look at PFAFF - you will pay a little more BUT the IDT means you dont need a walking foot and their 1/4" foot is scant.....picing matches every time! I will never go to anything else now and I have owned 4 different brands over my lifetime.

gail-r

I think you need to 1st decide what you actually want to do with the machine such as; Do you want to make clothes, do you want to do decorative stitching, do you want to embroidery, do you want to do heavy items like hem jeans, do you want to do just quilt peicing, do you want to use a walking foot, do you want to do free motion quilting, do you want to quilt with very fine thread, do you want to quilt with one color of thread on the top and a different color in the bobbin? Some machines will give you better results than others. For instance, the auto tension is great if you are sewing with different weights of fabric but isn't very good if you want to free motion quilt with fine thread or two different colors. If you want to make some of the heavier quilts you may want more power than most domestic multi purpose machines have, especially if you want to do walking foot quilting, you can actually burn up the motor in your machine or you will not get good results with the walking foot, usually very tiny tight stitches and uneven fabric feeding which you do not want in a quilt and also they are a nightmare if you have to pick them out. On the other hand if you want to mainly do general sewing and want zigzag stitching then some quilting machines would have way more power than you need and most are straight stitch only. I have 2 Babylock machines which I use for general sewing and machine embroidery and I also have the Juki TL98Q that I use for quilting, I love the compensating foot for peicing, especially chain peicing and construction, the power and speed makes many jobs go much faster. The pressor foot preasure is very easy to adjust as are the needle tension and bobbin tension so you can use different weights of thread and 2 color quilting. Sorry for such a long post, I just wanted to give a little more to think about before you make your final decision.

Good luck on your machine shopping.
Hugs, Gail in Utah

Sewze

My thoughts in purchasing a new machine are that if you only intend to buy one machine and there is the possibility that you might want to do many different things with that machine, i.e. embroidery, home dec, clothing, quilting, etc. then you should purchase the most machine for your $ that you can afford; otherwise, if you buy a machine strictly for quilting, you may find yourself a yr. or two down the road wanting to go in a different direction with your sewing and be right back where you are now. For example: I wanted to do embroidery, in addition to my home dec and clothing sewing when I purchased my machine. I did not have a desire to learn to quilt; but, when the opportunity arose to buy the FAB-U-MOTION, I did......just in case I ever decided to try to quilt. Just my opinion. Good luck with your decision.
Jinnie

sabrinaquilts

I too am in the process of deciding on buying new sewing machine. My sewing needs had changed and my current home machines can't keep up. It is a real tough decision and I want to not regret it later on. There are no right answers unfortuneately. Only a leap of faith after an educated guess. :thumbup:

KathyKat

Well I finally did it! I just bought a Saphhire 870. Thanks for all the tips. I did more research on various machines and tried out a Janome in a town not too far away but still like the Sapphire better for the large throat. What I saw in various review sites is that the 879/870 was the one getting the rave reviews. So i did not buy the sewing paltform thingy and got the better machine. I get to pick it up Thurs evening and now I can't wait!

Oklahoma Suzie

I have no idea, hope you get one you like