oksewglad

I thought your review to be very helpful, especially the needle down procedure...that makes sense. Why don't you like it for piecing or FMQ? thanks in advance...

UFOs Galore

The Babylock Jazz is a "mechanical" machine. There are no computers / electronics in the machine. The needle up/down feature requires electronics.

Nanny's dollface

I seem to have better 1/4 inch piecing seams with my Viking 118 which is also mechanical than I do with the Jazz. The biggest frustration is making sure I have at least 6 inches of thread from the needle before resuming to sew; otherwise, the thread comes out of the needle and requires re threading.
FMQ on the other hand is much easier on the Jazz but I need to stop and rest every 20 min otherwise my shoulders start to ache from moving and repositioning the quilt. I will use this for quilts that only require straight line quilting from edge to edge.
I did end up last weekend brining home a HandiQuilter Simply Sixteen with a little foot frame for quilting. I Played around with it at the shop and fell in love with it - so much easier to quilt designs.

oksewglad

My old Viking SEL 6570--bought it in the early '80's and wore it out--had the down needle capability and was a mechanical machine.

oksewglad

Thanks for your reply...the short thread is an issue with many machines...that's why I learned to chain piece to avoid the rethreading! You will love the new machine!

ruby2shoes

My new Juki TL2010Q is a mechanical machine and has needle up/needle down.

acjacques

I have arthritis on both hands, so it's hard to grab hold of the fabric and also try to turn the wheel with the other. If it's just straight sewing I don't mind; it is a big issue tho' when doing FMQ since the needle needs to be down when moving the position of the quilt to start a new stitch.

Newfymom

Three words: Don’t buy it. Mine will go in for third time in 9 months of moderate use. Something goes wrong and the needle stops catching stitches. FMQ was fine for two to three months, then I took it in and they readjusted the needle somehow. This last time they had it five weeks and while I could piece a quilt fine, once I dropped the feed dogs it won’t pick up a single stitch for piecing or quilting. Incidentally, I’ve had my machine back from the dealer for one week at this writing. I’ll be taking it in AGAIN tomorrow. I expected more from baby lock. Don’t buy the Jazz. It isn’t worth the headache. It’s frustrated me to the point of never looking at another baby lock.

ruby2shoes

What I actually meant here is that the machine stops with the needle down each time and you have a button to push if you then want it to raise.

dorismae904

My daughter bought the Jazz. The straight line stitching was great but the FMQ was awful. She took it back several times, was told it must have been something she did. After a heated discussion, the owner gave her a Janome 6600 to try for a few weeks. That machine did everything she could have wished for and he actually gave her a NEW Janome for the Jazz and a few hundred dollars. She just loves the janome. I don't know what Babylock people were thinking when they designed this machine. Did they really think quilters would not care about needle up/down which is so important to FMQ? Has anyone on the board bought a Jazz and really likes it?