Date: 2/5/10 10:50 AM

Good morning, everyone!

I am a advanced beginner-level quilter, and I am rapidly outgrowing the abilities of my sewing machine. It is a Janome "New Home" model that my husband received for Christmas in 1997. It's completely mechanical, has three decorative stitches, and it has done its job perfectly well up until now. However, where it falls short is in actual quilting (top/batting/backing), and putting on the binding (top/batting/backing/double-layer binding), where it is just not strong enough to handle these tasks with ease. Replacing the needle helps, but I still have to manually push the fabric through the machine, and the bobbin design is really annoying and is driving me batty.

I am not planning on doing any complicated sewing beyond quilting, and in fact the only sewing -other- than quilting that I have done is re-hemming bicycle jerseys (after ripping out the elastic), making simple curtains, and making a very plain and simple small pillow. Garments are definitely beyond my interest and skill. :)

What I need (as far as I know) is the following:
-machine that can do some decorative quilting stitches
-good at straight-line piecing
-has a larger harp area for quilting
-has an available (or built-in) large table for supporting the quilts
-has a drop-in horizontal bobbin
-has a stepping style motor (?)
-is able to do free-motion quilting
-has walking feet and 1/4" seam feet available or included
-has knee-lift option available or included
-will last me a good long time :)

I would also like a needle threader, thread cutter, and tieoff function, but they're not critical. I don't care if it has a separate bobbin winder, I recently bought a standalone winder anyway. I'm split on whether programmble / adjustable stitches would be worth it. My budget is currently $1200 but I may be able to push that up a bit, but definitely no higher than $1800.

My plan is to put together baggies of fabric to test on machines and spend serious time at the Sewing Expo in Puyallup at the end of the month, and hopefully walk out with a new machine there. I was going to include fabric pairs for piecing and a premade small quilt sandwich to test the quiliting ability and decorative stitching ability. Is there anything else I should plan to test?

Finally, what machines should I be looking at? The Brother NT450Q and NT650Q look intriguing, as does the QC1000 (which is high for my range). I liked the Pfaff IDT when I tried it in the store, but I'm not sure which machines would be in my actual price range. Two friends have Vikings that they got on closeout two years ago that they love, but I don't know what models are appropriate for me to look at.

Thank you for whatever help you can offer! Have a lovely day!

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Janome L-108 ~ Janome MC6600
2 Singer 221-1 Featherweights (1948 & 1950 British Centennial)
Singer 503A ~ Pfaff 130 ~ Singer NL-15

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Reply to alegriaa
Date: 2/5/10 11:35 AM

Hi,
I have the Baby Lock Quest Plus, it has the features you are looking for. It also has PDQ, which is identical to Pfaff's IDT. It does not have a thread cutter button. The manual thread cutter is stationed at a perfect location on the backside of the head and when you pull your fabric from the machine you bring the threads up to the the cutter back to front and the cut threads remain in the cutter and are up and out of your way. Having machines with thread cutter buttons I thought I would be bother not having it on the QP. I'm happy with this quirky feature because the rest of this machine is great.

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Modern: BabyLock Quest Plus, Bernina Activa 140, Viking Platinum 770, Pfaff Creative 7530, Janome 1600P
Vintage: Singer 15-91, Kenmore 1030
Serger: Singer Quantumlock 14T967DC, Viking Huskylock 560ED

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Reply to alegriaa
Date: 2/5/10 11:59 AM

Have you looked at the Janome 6600, or buying a used 6500? My 6500 does very well at FMQ and has good piercing power. A lot of quilters in my guild have it and the 6600.

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Date: 2/5/10 12:49 PM

Thanks for the two recommendations. I just looked them up on the manufacturer's webpages as well as reviews here on this site.

The BabyLock Quest Plus has the same bobbin configuration that my current machine does that I absolutely HATE. Other than that, it seems kind of nice.

The Janome 6600 seems nicer than I expected - I was looking at everything BUT Janome based on how much I dislike my current machine. I may give this one a try in person if I can find one, however, as just about all the reviews here are positive.

Also, once again the pricing issue rears its ugly head - for both machines, members here paid in a range of $700 for the same machine. *sigh*

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Janome L-108 ~ Janome MC6600
2 Singer 221-1 Featherweights (1948 & 1950 British Centennial)
Singer 503A ~ Pfaff 130 ~ Singer NL-15

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Date: 2/5/10 1:14 PM

Dare I say it? You might want to consider the Juki F600. I believe it has all the features on your list, and can be bought for between $1000 and $1200.

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Virginia
http://asewinglife.blogspot.com

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Reply to alegriaa
Date: 2/5/10 1:40 PM

Given your list the one that pops in my mind is also the Janome 6600. It has the extra wide harp. There has been some discussion here that Janome may be coming out with a new model (speculation?). If so, you might be able to find a good deal on these coming up. However, I do believe it is priced in your budget (? not 100% sure but maybe someone can chime in).

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Date: 2/5/10 3:40 PM

Remember that a 7mm or 9mm feed dog makes it harder to piece in a straight line at the beginning and end. The wider feed dogs are wider than a quarter inch foot and pull the fabric to the left, especially at the end of a seam. They are also not as curve friendly as narrow feed dogs. People manage with what they have but for me these were compromises that I was not willing to make - having tried it for a year with an otherwise nice machine. Many quilters prefer a 5.5 m. feed dog for the ease of piecing. Also for free motion quilting think about the bobbin for a minute. With a drop in bobbin you have a sharp bend in the thread before it comes out the hole under the needle. With a vertical bobbin your bobbin thread has a straight shot to the hole just under the needle. It makes for an easier time free motion quilting when you do not have the drag from the bobbin area. I felt that I was always fighting my Sapphire and sold it rather promptly. The other machine I had was a 9mm Pfaff (yes and I really disliked the swing to the left), which it did even with the IDT. I did have a 7 mm Pfaff which was not so bad. I love my Bernina for its wonderful stitch but I love the Janome 1600P for its wonderful stitch also. They both piece and free motion beautifully and both have vertical bobbins and narrow feed dogs. The 1600 P I bought to free motion quilt on but use it for sewing also. It is a straight stitch only with a needle up/down, separate bobbin winder and speed control. (and a thread cutter which I never use) The Bernina is my go to machine most of the time though because it is just so quiet and seems to do everything easily. Make sure you try everything and do buy from a dealer so that you get lessons what ever you do decide to get. Local support can be a big help.

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Bernina Gal

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Reply to alegriaa
Date: 2/5/10 3:49 PM

I just finished a baby quilt yesterday and I usually use my Viking but on this quilt I used my Brother Quilt Club machine that seems to have all that you asked for on a machine.
My Q did a great job but I missed my Viking stippling foot which I love for the visibility plus having the needle right up front instead of in the rear of the machine. The Brother was not bad though, I think my Janome Kenmore has the needle area farther to the back.

It makes a big difference using a machine with auto threader, auto cutter, knee lift and extra large bed plus an extension table. My machine also came with a Quilters kit of feet.

I usually use my Pfaff with IDT for some puffy projects but yesterday I did use the walking foot on my Brother and it did a wonderful job. The Brother has the top load bobbin and my Pfaff a front load bobbin..both are rotary bobbins however.

My Brother machine is a discontinued model and Brother makes Babylock machines. My machine's design is much like the older model Babylock Quilter's Choice and BL Decorators Choice. These are discontinued also but Babylock has newer models in each.
The older models have more of a bubble nose on the machine with the auto thread cutter on it. One of these older models also has a slightly larger bed as does my Q. The larger bed is an advertised feature on one of the models and I forget which one but I think it was the BLDC but I don;t think it included the extension table. I don't see that in the newer models that one has a larger bed or that a table is included.

I have never used the new Juki 600 but it seems to have many of these features and I think it also comes with the extenion table.

For a straight sttich quilt machine, I have posted many times that someday I would love to have a Brother PQ1500S which is the same machine as the Babylock Pro Quilter..both having the pin feed and 4 level drop feed. I just don't know if I can make do wtih a machine that only does staight stitching though and I am very impressed with the machines that I know own.

-- Edited on 2/5/10 4:03 PM --

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Date: 2/5/10 3:55 PM

There is only one review for the Juki F600, and the manufacturer's site makes it look like the harp space is very tiny, even smaller than what I have now. Can anyone comment more on this one?

The information on the feed dogs is very interesting, thank you. Could you elucidate on what you mean by the measurements you stated? Is that the length of the feed dogs, or the separation space between them, or something else entirely? Will I have to take a ruler to each machine I look at to find this information out? It doesn't seem to be on the manufacturer's spec sheets online, although I could simply not be looking in the right place. :)

Does anyone have any comments about Viking, Pfaff, or Brother machines in this price range? Or about what other tests I should try in person? I'm appreciating all of the feedback, please keep it coming!

------
Janome L-108 ~ Janome MC6600
2 Singer 221-1 Featherweights (1948 & 1950 British Centennial)
Singer 503A ~ Pfaff 130 ~ Singer NL-15

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Reply to alegriaa
Date: 2/5/10 4:14 PM

I think that most quilters prefer some of the machines where the feed is not as wide. I think this can be overcome with needle postions and different feet according to some posters but I have never tried using a machine with 8mm or 9mm wide stitches as some mahcines can do.
The widest stitch on my 4 different models is on my Kenmore (Janome). It has a 7mm wide stitch. It has the 7 piece feed dog system and SFS (Superior Feed System). I use this machine for a lot of deco work but it does well on about everything including extremely heavy fabrics.

My other machines have a narrower feed. Especially my Viking and Pfaff it seems. I do know that my Brother Q has a 6 point feed system and it seems that most of the Brother and Babylock machines have the 7 but mine is a Quilt Club model so maybe that is the reason. I am really not sure and I have had no problems with the 7.
I do know that people that use deco stitching love the wide stitches on their 9mm machines.

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