I purchased a trade-in Espire almost 2 years ago for $1300 and have felt that I over paid. My Espire has not performed as well as it sounds like most Babylocks do. Trouble with stitching over intersections (especially using Batik fabrics but really everything), lighting is not strong enough, the bobbin case is almost impossible to put back into position correctly--each time I have taken it out to clean under it, it has taken 2 to 3 days of repeated repositioning to get it to work again properly--and I have read and researched everything to see what I am doing wrong and I have no idea. Many decorative stitches don't stitch out that nicely and my straight stitch doesn't really stitch that straight (compared to my old Janome especially). There are several other factors as well that make this a difficult machine to use but the way it pulls fabric to the left is really frustrating. I think this has to do with where the feed dogs are positioned in relation to the presser foot. It is difficult to get a 1/4 seam.
So, I'm really hoping I just got one that doesn't really fit the Babylock quality measure.
Last edited by AngelinaMaria; 08-03-2013 at 07:39 PM.