Midarm Quilter or upgrade to Janome 9900/12000
 

I've finally saved up my money to get a new sewing toy. :o I use and love a Janome 6600, and I've been thinking of upgrading it to something that 1) has a bit larger 11" throat space and 2) has a free arm. I've been dreaming of the Janome 9900 or 12000. I don't do machine embroidery usually, but it might be fun to expand my skills! I like being in my sewing room.

But the biggest thing is the throat space. I am constantly wrestling with big quilts, so I've been thinking maybe I should keep the 6600 and spend my hard-earned money on a sit-down mid arm quilter like an APQS George.

Thoughts or advice?

your 6600 is such a wonderful machine, I wouldn't trade it away (because I love mine). If you have the room, an additional machine dedicated to quilting is not a bad idea, unless of course you really think you might get into the embroidery aspect of things. I don't think the extra couple of inches of throat space will decrease you quilting difficulties.

Consider this opinion as completely biased ;-)

I have the Brother 1500s with a 9" throat and a Janome 8900 with a 11" throat. I really don't notice much difference between the two. I ended up buying a 15" Bailey Home Quilter on a frame, and even though moving to quilting on a frame is a steep learning curve, the 15" throat really does make a huge difference. So, for what it's worth, if you can afford a 14 - 15" machine on a table, I think you'll like it. That being said, you'll have to pry both the Brother and Janome out of my dead cold hands.

I'm with DebraK - I love, love, love my 6600!! I have quilted queen and king quilts on the 6600, and the free arm isn't a concern. (I do have an old machine with a free arm, which I use about once every year or so.)

I also love embroidery, so I have a Janome 350e embroidery-only machine. It has been great, but I'm getting ready to upgrade to the new 500e. I made the decision to have an embroidery-only machine because it allows me to embroider and sew at the same time. I have never regretted that decision.

Why not make the jump to a long arm? I have a Janome 6500 and coped with the same problem. I went to a Innova 26 inch on a 12 foot frame. I still do small quilts on the Janome 6500. Be Sure whatever you go to has a large enough throat opening and large enough frame. A fame is also nice in that you do not have to cope with basting the quilt.

Support for the quilt is the most important thing when doing any quilting. I just haven't seen a table big enough to give any support with these sit down machines.

Why not investigate the 22" Bailey, you can get it about $2500 cheaper and it has a good reputation.

I have the Babylock Tiara II midarm. If your biggest struggle is with quilting, and the choice is between a sewing machine with a bigger harp space or a midarm, I'd defiantly go with the midarm. I have a large harp on my Bernina 780 but the thought of quilting anything larger than a crib quilt makes me cringe.

Check out the BlockRockIt at Kathyquilts.com I have it and really like it. Support is great and the price was just right!

The Jennoop suspension system works well for sit-down machines. Some quilters make their own out of PVC. Here is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJGph8am6BE