Sewingmommy

I am seriously considering trading in my Bernina 730e for either a Bernina 880 plus or a 790 plus. My main workhorse has been my Bernina 1130 which I’ll keep. I sew all my and my daughter’s clothes, mend, some crafts, some embroidery, some quilting. I would like to get into more quilting, as my mother was an avid hand quilter and won many awards. Now that my children are starting to sew their own clothes, I want to start quilting more. I haven’t made a quilt larger than crib size on my machine. I would like to machine quilt up to king size. I want to know if anyone has either of these two machines and if they feel it’s worth trading up. I figure this would be the last time I trade up, so I want to make sure I get the right machine if I purchase one. Please give any advice, warnings, or suggestions you might have. Thank you all.

Tartan

Welcome from Ontario, Canada. If your 730e is a good machine, I don’t think I would trade up. Some of the newer high end Berninas are having problems. Measure the throat space on your 730 and compare it to the other models.

leaha

a warm welcome from Ky. have no advice on your machines as I'm a Pfaff and singer 221 owner.

juliasb

Welcome to the QB from SE Michigan! I wish I could help you with your machine choices but a machine like yours will remain on my wish list until I win a lottery! We have a lot of quilters all at different levels of skills that can help you on you journey into quilting more and getting to know what all you can accomplish. There are so many people that have your same machine that I am confident some one can guide you. Again welcome to the QB and I hope to see a great deal of you and you continue your journey into quilting.

Sewingmommy

Thank you. I measured and the 730 has about 7 1/2 inches compared to the 790 has 10 inches and the 880 has 12 inches. I have had issues with the buttonhole applications on the 730. But I would like to join in the embroidery and quilting classes which seem geared towards the higher 770-790 and the 8’s. I do have a few other Bernina machines: Record 830, 1000, 1130, 1230, 335B, 730e, sergers: 2 334DS, 334D, 1300, and a Deco 600. I kind of love Bernina. I also have a very old Pfaff (was my mom’s), Elna ( 1966), 2 Singer Featherweights, 2 Singer 66 Treadles, a White Treadle, 2extra Singer Treadle heads without cabinets, a old Singer (my mother in law’s), a Bernina 1001 and 1010 for my daughters to use and gave my Kenmore to our son. I do love sewing and 5 of the above machines were inherited. We do use all my machines when my girls are sewing and have family that come to use them too. I want to expand and learn more embroidery and especially quilting, thus my desire to have a current machine, but probably trade in one or two machines towards a newer one. I just want to be frugal but look to the future for myself and my girls. Any advice is welcomed. Thank you all again.

Sewingmommy

Thank you. I’m so confused as to what to do, but I so appreciate the information. I have found some really good prices on some slightly used machines, I couldn’t consider brand new as the cost even with the 5 year payments is more than I can comprehend. I am excited to be accepted into such a wonderful and helpful quilting community. Thank you. Just giving me your opinions and insight is extremely helpful.

Lori B.

Welcome from Michigan!

Barb2018

I have an 880 that I upgraded to an 880 Plus and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I've quilted generous queen sized quilts on it without a problem. The only problems I've had were those originating from user error. I've also used the embroidery module to do quilting, although I bought a Snap Hoop Monster to do it. It plays nicely with any thread that's in my stash. It sews through the thinnest cotton and I put patches on my daughter's leather backpack.
Last June I purchased a Janome Continental M7, and I wouldn't trade it either. It's a lovely mix of raw heavy duty machine with a computerized machine. But now I can have the Bernina set up for quilting/embroidery, and still piece on the Janome.
Good luck on your search...I'm hoping you can find a good low stitch count machine that will last you as you grow.

Sewingmommy

Thank you for that information. Are you anywhere near Ohio? You have a wealth of experience using the 880. What machine did you have before the 880 and was it hard to learn all the differences of the 880?
Thank you,

sewingpup

about a year or so ago, I bought a new Bernina 570 hoping it would be last machine....well, it has been in the shop ;three times, I am taking it in again next week. When it sews, it sews good....but out of the blue....it will jam and create quite the bird's next in the bobbin area. I got it back from the shop in April 2020 after the third trip. I had already put my 25 year old Viking in the cabinet....so I just kept sewing on the D1 and then when I was almost done with Bonnie's mystery quilt last week. My screen finally froze up....so I put the Bernina and tried it. well, it created a very small bird's next, then I cleared that, then it created a bigger bird's nest, I cleared that. I checked the Bernina site and downloaded and installed the latest firmware which was supposed to fix a few bugs....started stitching. put on almost a border on all four sides of a large quilt...then bammm....it bird nested again...cleared it out....stitched about 10 inches....repeated one more time...then was able to stitch the last border on without a problems. This jamming seems to just happen out of the blue. I can't figure it out. So I have taken pictures and written everything down. Hopefully it will get fixed. I have tried to do some research on what problems folks are having with these new Bernina's but can't find much info. I would certainly hang on to your old Bernina if you do decide to get a new one. I traded my old one in. they only gave me a 500 dollar credit for it and it was very dependable...just getting old.