Baby lock Crescendo vs Tiara
 

I am looking for a machine that has a wide harp and a stitch regulator for machine quilting. I use a Pfaff 7550 for piecing and it is a workhorse which I will keep for a long time. I am trying to decide if the Babylock Crescendo would do as good a job with FMQ as the Tiara. I live in a smaller town with only a Bernina and Babylock dealer and want to buy from a local place for lessons and service. I do no embroidery. Appreciate any input. Thanks

If you already have a machine dedicated to piecing, I would personally get the Tiara. Much wider harp space than the Crescendo and a larger table to support the quilt. I've test driven the Tiara and loved it!

however ... if you want to be able to have a 2nd "backup" piecing machine then the Crescendo would be a wise choice.

BUT ... by all means ... TRY them both and see how you like them!!

It is important to try them out and see how it fits for your needs. Test drive them like you do a car. I still LOVE my Bernina 1530!!

Thanks for your comments. I will go test drive and report back.

I love my dreamweaver same as the unity which is the combo of the crescendo and it FMQ very nice, tension stays really good, the regulator takes some getting used to but others have mastered it I just haven't but it does an awesome job without

I had a similar choice recently.... I was debating between the Janome 15000 which is a sewing and embroidery machine and the Pfaff Powerquilter 16.0 which is a sit down mid/long arm quilting machine (same machine as the Tiara) As this was a major purchase (as will yours be) I spent quite some time looking into both. I then sat myself down and asked myself what I wanted from a machine. I already had a Janome 7700 for piecing and a Brother 4000D for embroidery, so I asked did I really need a larger sewing and embroidery machine. I then went to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC and played with both. I was a serious purchaser and both Janome and Pfaff were happy to spend quite some time explaining their machines to me.

My decision........ I went with the Pfaff..... after playing with both and spending a night thinking about it, I realised that the Horizon has a great harp for piecing and the Brother is a fantastic embroidery machine..... but even with the large throat on the Horizon I struggled quilting a large quilt..... decision made.

My Pfaff is fantastic and I love the space....now all I have to do is practice my free motion quilting.

I hope this was helpful and helps you to think about what you really need and aids your decision making.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Hugs

Caroline

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Caroline, Thanks for your reply. I am pretty much thinking like you. I love my old Pfaff 7550 and will use that for piecing. I used it to create two 8 foot x 8 foot all silk quilts that toured in Europe for three years. I do mostly contemporary quilts on a large scale and really need to learn to do my own quilting.So I am leaning towards a quilting machine. It will be a few weeks before I go test drive them both. I plan to take sandwiches of all silk and try on both machines. I have done some FMQ so I am not starting from scratch. I love that every on this forum is so helpful. Happy Quilting! Barb

You need to decide if you want another sewing machine (and boy - what a sewing machine you would get with the Crescendo) or if you want a straight-stich machine. The Tiara is a fabulous quilter. With the Crescendo you get a large throat, the laser, digitizer pen, muv-it foot and an assortment of large fancy quilting stitches. You can negotiate a better lower price for the Crescendo as well. Lucky me, I have both.

I have a Tiara and absolutely love it. I can do so much more that I could with my regular machine and even the Babylock Jane which is a smaller quilting machine. Go to your dealer and give it a try. Good luck with your decision.