anniej

I recently purchased the Brother CS60001 from Amazon.com for $159. (free sipping). This is the second Brother machine that I have and I love them both.

anniej

I meant to say CS 6000i

anniej

I guess I'm still asleep- I meant (free shipping)

Nancy11442

I've heard the Janome Gem/Jem (?) is a great little machine and is about the same price. Check it out if you want and see what you find. It's also lightweight to take to classes.

Jenniky

I think this is good advice also. They really take care of you and help you understand your machine if you purchase your machine from your lqs or sewing center. Least wise my experience has been nothing but positive. Walmart fits my budget also however.. customer service rating for them is like.. less than zero . I was put in a used floor model by my local sewing center/lqs that I have been enjoying and learning on and Im saving to buy one of the more expensive machines. I read an article that it is ideal to have one machine dedicated to piecing and the other to quilting so that is what I am aiming for. :) :)

KarenR

I got a Brother embrodery machine at WM on a terrific sale $100.00 for a machine that retailed for $389.00. I love it for sewing straight seems and decorative stitches. Will be trying embrodery soon.
If I had the funds I would get one at a sewing machine place. But I could afford the $100.00 at the time.
I have no regretts.

grann of 6

I was told by a friend that works at Wal-Mart that they have had so many returns of their cheap machines due to breakage or malfunctioning that she couldn't even count them all. Another friend in sewing machine sales tells me those machines are made with all plastic parts and are fine for an occasional sewer but not for any regular sewing. I would watch for a good used machine. Check with a sewing machine dealer for trade-ins. They always clean and refurbish them before selling. A dealer can also recommend the right one for you based on what you can afford.

so-sew

I would run from those Walmart machines in a big hurry. I recommend looking on Craigslist or Sewitsforsale to find a used machine of higher quality. What you need most is a machine with a walking foot or a machine that can be fitted with one in the future. If you want to fmq, make sure you can drop the machine's feed dogs and lessen the presser foot pressure. Good luck and welcome to the world of quilting.

JuneD

I have to agree with Bubblegum. Buying a cheaper 'good' machine, such as a Janome is well worth the money. If you don't need all the bells and whistles on a machine, you may even find a better deal.

There is a website that I visited quite a bit when I was in the market for a new machine. It is called 'Pattern Review'. It not only reviews tons of patterns, it also reviews sewing machines...LOTS of them!!! And the website isn't the only one doing the reviews. Ladies who have bought machines review also. http://patternreview.com. I hope this helps. :-)

OmaForFour

Go to Amazon.com and search for Janome, Brother, Singer or any other brand sewing machine. You will get a good price and in most instances free shipping. Also, you will be able to look up the technical info and features of the machines. They also have a place where people who own them have commented on how they found the quality. This should help you make a decision and possibly buy one there.

Quote=DonnaFreak]Howdy y'all :c)

Although I'm well aware that sewing machines can cost into the thousands of dollars, I'm poor. LOL! I'm fairly new to quilting, and I've made about 9 quilts and a dog bed so far. I've made a full-sized rag quilt, a twin-sized fat quarter quilt, several lap-sized fat quarter quilts, and a dog bed. I also made several scrappy pincushions as Christmas gifts using a log cabin design. I made my first quilt (the rag quilt) in August 2010...just 4 months ago. The rag quilt and the dog bed were "quilt as you go", and the fat quarter quilts were fairly simple to quilt just by making X's across the fat quarters, then sewing around the edges in straight lines. But I'm wanting to get into making some more complicated quilts that need to be quilted after the top is done. To be quite honest, it doesn't seem feasible to me to pay a boat-load of money to have someone else quilt a top for me if I can do it myself.

Wal-Mart has a Brother sewing/quilting machine for $199.99. I'm sure it's probably not as good as some that cost much more, but would it be good enough for someone who is just starting out and learning how to do it? I was thinking about getting this machine when I get my tax refund, but don't want to just throw away a couple hundred bucks if it's not worth it. Does anyone know anything about this machine, or can advise me on whether doing my own quilting is something I want to even get into at this stage? I would sure appreciate it! :c)

Donna[/quote]