Shrink42020

Oh my goodness! I spent the day test driving machines today and cannot believe how excited I was by the experience. These 2 machines are at the top of my list. Now I have 2 questions: 1) Babylock or Brother? 2) I have found the Elegante cheaper online by $3500 although the machine is 3 1/2 years old but I will not get free lessons for life as I would if I purchased the machine locally. All thoughts and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

KarenR

Talk to your dealer - tell them what you found and find out the best price with the lessons.

Lessons are terrific.

Have fun making your choice.

quilter in the making

I bought one of the original Ellegante machines and never took the lessons I was supposed to get with it. It came with a workbook (still wrapped in plastic), but with just the manual I have learned how to use it myself. It is very user friendly and if you have any machine embroidery experience at all, it is very easy to pick up on your own. I love mine!!! Either way you decide, congrats!!!

goosepoint

I got my Ellegante 2 in December 2009. It was 8 months old and had 100,000 stitches. I never took a class. Everything I learned I got from another forum at Allbrands. They can help you with everything. If your dealer will work with you and cut a deal then I would go with a dealer. Buying one online is risky. Ask about the number of stitches it has. I have never had 5 minutes of problems. She is priceless. Babylock and Brother are like Toyota and Lexus. They are made in the same plant. Check out the sewforum at Allbrands.com and you will quickly size them up. Mine came off of eBay and it was a tradein at a shop in Florida. They were super nice and knew the history of the machine. The lady who bought it orginally was so intimidated that she traded it back in on something smaller. They were the best to deal with. I would suggest you get additional photos of everything that comes with it and find out the history if possible.

AliKat

I had the Ellegant but traded it back as it was too heavy on one side and difficult for me to move. Loved it ... just couldn't move the darn thing.

ali

Shrink42020

I am a newbie quilter (began in March and have made 13 quilts to date) how many stitches are too many?

constantly55

I have had a Babylock Ellageo which is one step down from Ellegante, bought new at local shop 8 years ago, it has 8,000,000 stitches on it and still does a beautiful job.

Personally Babylock's are very user friendly, but I like dealing with local businesses, then if you need help they are there, especially if you have never embroidered. Our local business 8 years ago was very helpful, but changed hands and not as people oriented.