Bonnie Hunter praising Singer 400 series machines on her quilt cam
 

I watched Bonnie Hunter on her quilt cam show last night and she had a Singer 401. She praised Singer's 400 class machines and said they were very affordable and all metal, everyone should have one. She said that the best thing was the Class 66 bobbins and how much thread they can hold over some of the FW's and class 300. She paid $75 for her machine and it was in a nice cabinet, don't know if that was included or not. Bonnie has many vintage machines and sews on all of them. Last night was her straight stitch 401. With her promoting the machine, I would think there might be a run on them on CL or eBay.

She has many vintage machines and there were people asking about them on her FB Quiltville page. Many of the quilters who were doing her mystery quilt were also using them..me included.

The 400 series is already one of the more well known machines even outside vintage sewing machine circles. I'm not too concerned about an increase in demand for them. If people start getting crazy money for them, I'll sell my 401.
Rodney

I don't love drop in bobbins and I know many quilters that are less than enamored with them. I think the prices of 400 series machines are safe:>

The Singer 404 is the straight stitch model. I like the drop in bobbins easy to clean and maintain.

Not the best for tension and FMQing....

Wow if that's true how come so many Quilters own Babylocks. :D There seem to be a lot of newer machines including Janome, etc. that have the drop in.

I didn't say all. I said many. This is why Berninas and Pfaffs remain popular and loved. It's all about preference. I prefer the vertical bobbin assemblies for FMQing. So do longarm manufacturers since they all are vertical and not drop ins.

Well then, I'm just tickled silly that we got our 401. Now we're part of the clique ...... at least till the next greatest cult machine comes along. :D


Joe

What I like about the Singer 404.
It just does straight stitch - single needle hole.
It has a slant needle - less straining your neck trying to see what you are doing.
It has a class 66 bobbin - bigger bobbin = more thread
It has a front thread needle position - easier to thread and keep track of which way it goes.
The bobbin area is easy to clean thread nests.
All that adds up to better especially for beginning sewists.
If all you are worried about is free motion quilting, find a Singer 15 or a clone and set it up to do just only free motion - then you don't have reset your machine.