bkay

I have several vintage Singers that I use regularly for piecing and quilting. So, I'm not really up to date on all the bells and whistles of newer machines and I really only want/need a straight stitch machine.

I recently joined a quilt guild, so am participating in Sit and Sew. I find that my Singer 301 is heavier than I want to deal with moving on a regular basis.

I think I want to purchase a low end Brother for piecing (only) at a Sit and Sew. They have several models under $300. Some seem to come with an extension table, which is a feature that I would like to have. However, some that are on the Brother website show the table, but it doesn't show on the retailer's site, so I guess I can eliminate those.

How do you tell if the extension table is removable for transport? It seems that Brother is mostly sold at large retailers, so there seems to be no one to ask. So how do I get the information?.

Lastly, does anyone have a specific Brother model to suggest?

bkay

Snooze2978

I bought a Brother machine online at Costco which I rarely ever go on their website but it seemed like a great deal and once I purchased it, tried it out, I bought another one for a friend I was teaching how to make quilts. It was such an easy machine to use, had some decorative stitches, came with an extension table and cost less than $300 at the time. It was the Brother XR3140 model. It's lightweight and I use it at one end of my 4x8 cutting table for when I'm attaching long borders, sashing and binding as it gives me the whole table to keep the weight from hanging over. Plus my old bobbins from my Babylock combo machine that I sold fits as well as a few other specility feet I didn't sell with it as they were extras I had purchased.

MawMaw B

I've had a Brother cs6000i for many years, more than 10. I bought it off Amazon and it has a removable extension table, walking foot, and many other features. It's very light weight and it is my everyday sewing machine and is easy to take to my guild meeting and traveling. I have no idea if it is still produced, but they may have similar. I've been very happy with it.

Onebyone

All] extension tables are removeable from portable machines, at least all I have seen are. I would suggest checking out Eversewn machines. A guild member has this one for sew days and retreats. She never has had a problem and it's pretty too. EverSewn Celine.

I have the Eversewn Sparrow or had, my daughter borrowed it and so far has kept it. It is a nice portable machine.

Onebyone

The Brother cs6000i has been discontinued. It was a super little machine.

patricej

you can buy a brother extension table [for big box models] separately for a reasonable price.
i'd recommend looking for your "must-have" features first, then get the table as an extra if necessary.

retired2pa

Not sure what your budget is but you might want to consider the Singer Quantum Stylist 9960. Here's a link for Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1. I bought this machine to take to classes back in 2013. Amazon had a Flash sale and I paid $250 for it. It's a great machine. I only use it as a back-up now but I set it up occasionally and use it for a while with no problems.

Onebyone

Before I started quilting I had one of the first Singer Quantums. Bought it from Home Shopping network. That machine was fantastic! It had perfect stitches and was so quiet. I let an elderly lady from church borrow it as I had a machine for quilting by then, and she died suddenly a couple of weeks later. Her son disposed of all her belongings including my machine a few days after her funeral and left the state. I have no idea where the belongings with to, just know the house was on the market and empty. Relator would not give me his information, said she would pass on a message. He never contacted me.
I bought another model of the Quantum, it was used at a good price, and I felt better about it but never really used it again. I don't know about the new versions of it .

Mkotch

I have one of those lightweight, little Brother under $300 machines that I got from Walmart. It works great although it's not as fast and doesn't have the large harp my Elna has. But it is a fine backup machine and very portable. I don't know how long it will last - it's all plastic - but I'm glad to have it. The "table" is just a small extension of the bed and definitely comes off.