AshleyR

Oh no, no trouble!! You'll love it! It just that it was only an inch bigger than the one I use now. Then the engine of our car blew up so we decided to send it back for a refund, knowing that I could order another one when our finances are better again! But, unless my Pfaff has to go to the sewing machine grave-yard, I'll stick with her until I can afford a 15 or 16 inch one.

Eyelets

I love my Pfaff 1222E. She and I have aged together since 1977 when she was new. The Pfaff does the absolute best straight stitch and since I have recently taken up FMQ, I use the Pfaff. But I have kept my machine in pristine shape as much as I could over all these years and several moves, so it hasn't had any abuse whatsoever. The only foot that I can use in FMQ is the "Darning foot" it came with. I have spoken to Amy at Brubaker's and there is no other foot for FM that fits that line of machines. Nevertheless, the is no problem, as the Pfaff will handle any thread in both top and bottom without any trouble. I do have to set the tension fairly high though. I did purchase, just recently, another bobbin case to set a lower tension on for FMQ to see if that will allow me to use lower top tension. BUT, the Pfaff is much slower than most machines, certainly than my Janomes and my Viking. I have a Janome 8050, a very low priced machine from Hancock's - it does really nice FMQ now that I have worked with the tensions of various cotton threads on top. I use Masterpiece in the bobbin on the Janome. I do think you can do FM on any machine. My Viking does a good job as well, but that is my modern expensive machine which I like to use only for garments and other sewing, not FM, so there are always a couple of machines set up differently. The Pfaff is too slow for FMQ if I do progress and want to do it a lot. I don't know why but it has always been a fairly slow machine compared to other machines. AND I would love a knee lift. Don't need a thread cutter, but would almost buy another machine just for knee lift! I am looking at that Brother seriously lately. Do post how it all goes with your new Brother - it is just like the Babylock Jane as well. SO I too await the results of your tests on the Brother! Thanks for allowing us to follow along on your road to a new machine.
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Maggieloe

Brother PQ1500s. About $550 on Amazon. A little more elsewhere. Quality mechanical straight stitch, very few bells and whistles machine. Have been trying to FMQ on my Sapphire 870 for three years. It does everything else pretty well, but the FMQ is problematic, sometimes OK, sometimes endless frustration. From reading around I have come to the conclusion that these complicated computerized machines are sometimes too fussy for the hard work of FMQ. So a good quality mechanical straight stitch is the answer. However, if you want the fancy stitches or even zig zag, you will need another machine.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ima...&s=arts-crafts

AshleyR

How are you and your new Brother getting along?