Originally Posted by
ChrisQuilter
Hello, I am new to machine sewing and am interesting mostly in Quilting Art, free-motion quilting. I just got a new Brother SE400 for Christmas and I also now have my MIL's Bernina 1530. I know she took excellent care of it and was an avid dressmaker/seamstress. I am wondering how that machine would be for free-motion quilting? It has not been used in about 4 years but has been stored in its case in the house. I am wondering if I should even keep it since the computer boards aren't made anymore. Maybe I should sell it while there is still a market for it, but I know it is a "classic" machine and maybe I should just keep it as a spare or use it instead of the Brother? I'm guessing I need to have it cleaned before use since it has been idle. Thank you for your suggestions and experience with this machine!
Hi, I have a Bernina 1260 and I do a lot of free motion quilting and thread painting with it. It works beautiful! I just finished a quilt for a lady with dragonflies and butterflies, some I thread painted, and some I used my Bernina Artista 165 embroidery machine. The Bernina machines are real work horses and go forever. I don't know anything about the one you have, but I am sure the manuel will help on the embroidery/thread painting and such. I won't buy another brand of machine, Bernina is the way to go for a machine that will last for many years. I do a lot of quilt-as-you-go type quilts. That way is much easier to quilt rather than fighting a large quilt on the machine. I quilt the blocks then serge around each one, then zig-zag them together. The sashing between the blocks cover up the stitching where I put the blocks together. MaryB