Quilter in MN

I am new to this forum and fairly new to the quilting world as well. I have been sewing for about 30 years now although the past 15 have just been repairs to torn jeans, etc! Since my youngest has left for college I have been searching for a hobby and discovered my quilting passion about 2 years ago. After much thought & reseach into what I required in a machine I invested in a Janome 6600P last year and absolutely love it. It is a work horse for piecing and quilting and I couldn't be happier with my choice.

I struggle with FMQ and all of the large quilts I have competed are done in the ditch using the duel feed on my Janome. I have done outlining as well and they have turned out wonderful.

I am now at a point where I want to branch out and make my quilts look more professional but do not want to send them out for long arm quilting. I am of the mindset that what I make needs to be made 100% by me.

I have spent the past couple of weeks online searching embroidery machines. I have seen the Baby Lock Ellisimo and Ellegante 3, the Brother Quattro 2, Innovis 5000 and Duetta 4500D as well as the Viking Ruby and Diamond. I have not had the opportunity to see any Bernina machines as of yet.

I still need to spend time with each machine but am looking for any opinions - good or bad - on any of these models.

I was definately impressed with the Viking Diamond but the closest dealer to me is in a Joann's store and I knew more about the machines from my research online than the dealer did!! It didn't give me a warm and cozy feeling to pay that amount of money to her knowing she was probably the one I would have to call with questions and/or lessons!!

I love my Baby Lock and Brother dealer, she is the one I bought my Janome from and has been very helpful.

As I said before, any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Sunnye

I just had a "class" with the new Pfaff creative sensation. At $10,000 it really is a sensation! Too expensive for me, but a really neat machine.
In my "research" of embroidery machines, although the Brother machine is supposed to be good, I can't get past the fact that they are tied into Disney. They have so much Disney designs that come with their package. Not worth it for me.
Try to investigate what designs you get and how much to buy more.
Also, if the dealer doesn't know the machine, I would really think twice; how would they fix it or promote it?
Good luck!

Quilter in MN

Thanks Sunnye. I agree completely about the dealer not knowing the machine. As much as I like the Viking, just didn't get a good feel about the dealer.

Disney is not important to me at the moment, I have two sons and neither is married and no sign of grandkids yet!!! Can't help but wonder if I would regret not getting a Brother when those grandbabies do start coming though. Still, I am leaning towards Baby Lock hearing some great things about them.

I hadn't given Pfaff any thoughts, I will look into that as well. Thanks I really want to get this right as this investment will last me a lot of years!!

momto5

Hi, and welcome to the Board!
Are you only considering an embroidery machine...do you plan to quilt your squares with it? Or do you really want a long arm?There are LA's out there for $3-5,000 (or less, if you can find a good used one) that might suit your purpose better. I'm just asking because I have an embroidery machine but have never used it to quilt with, and wondered if you had discovered something I don't know about! Let us know what your ultimate decision is.

Quilter in MN

My plan was to quilt with it. The dealer I purchased my Janome from told me she uses her embroidery machine to quilt all of her work. Haven't seen finished products yet, I will ask about that the next time I see her.

bibliostone

Does your dealer have a machine that does embroidery and regular sewing? I've never heard of anyone using just an embroidery machine to quilt. You should be able to free motion quilt with your Janome 6600. I've done twin-size on a Janome 6500. Are there any shops in your area that let you rent time on a long-arm machine? That is what I have done for larger quilts. It really is much faster and easier than doing it on a regular sewing machine.

Dolphyngyrl

They are the same machine, Quattro has disney designs, ellisimo has nancy zieman designs, go with which you would use more. Also brothers are the only ones to have the my custom stitch feature to create your own stitches as well, other than that it is the same machine. Either machine is wonderful in my book, I have my babylock espire and have loved her from the start. I have always been satisfied with my brothers and babylocks and the quatro and ellisimo are top of the line

Dolphyngyrl

For those asking yes you can use your embroidery machine to quilt
Check out nancy's notions, she sells lots of quilting embroidery designs, and there is even a book about it, I forgot the author
http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Embroi...ref=sr_1_5?ie=

bibliostone

Yes, but this book is for doing in the hoop blocks, which even with the big hoops won't be that big, and then joining them together later. Basically a "quilt as you go" quilt. And I am sure some people love that idea. Just not my cup of tea.

sewgarden

I have a brother 1500d which is a disney one. Not all brothers do disney. I quilt with mine and I have used quilting block embroidery designs (basically they are just an outline design) but they look nice. Buying a new machine is a big decision but I think you have to just go with what you think offers the things you will use most.