Originally Posted by Jerseyrayne
Originally Posted by patdesign
Before I got my new brother 1500, I was using a Singer 201, which I also love. I do mostly SID and the Singer had an underarm of about 8inches, and the Brother has 9, but the arm is a little higher, I really dont see that much difference trying to muscle a king size quilt through the arm. I do however piece and quilt in units anywhere from 20 x 20 up to 30 x 95, and that makes it so much easier, you just have to plan for the seams on the back and it takes a little more fabric. When I get the time I will post the 20x20 which was done on the 201, and the other qayg which I gave to my son, so I will have to go there to photo as I forgot to take a pix before giving.:)
I have a 2 - 201s and started to set one up for fmq and I had a jam and had to take it to my local repair shop and luckily she noticed that the wire going into the motor had been cooked and had open wires, she doesn't do wiring so when I got home DH and I checked my other 201 and it has the same problem. So they are being put on the back burner for now, maybe DH can figure out how to rewire it and the motor for a winter project. So for now I will be using my Viking, but I think I am leaning toward keeping my Viking and getting a straight stitch like the Brother 1500S etc. I would like to see one and try it out first. The dealer I went to today doesn't carry them. So will have to check out another shop.
I actually bought mine from Kens quilt shop on ebay, I had a 75.00 gift certificate and he had it on sale so it was a win win. I researched it on the Brother web site and emailed a few people on this board. I really like it, has a lot of power, a pin feed, ability to drop feed dogs, thread cutter button so you can cut threads without moving quilt. I always backstitch 2 stitches then cut. I have had it now about 9 months. It has lots of power and has really been trouble free. :-D