JANW

I have a Ianome memorycraft 6600 P and it's the best, especially with the 9" throat for quilting. I had a Bernina before, but I like Janome better.

Lady Diana

I just bought a Singer Futura 250 for $799....that is the price with most dealers right now. This machaine was $1099. I purchased mine at Allbrands.com, free delivery to your door and no sales tax. Features are great....you can down load any design from the internet..it takes them all, no boxes and converter hardware to deal with...just need a computer. Right now until the end of December, you get over $600 worth of free software that my friend had to pay for! The free embriodery software includes Hyper Font, Photo Stitch and Auto Cross Stitch. There is also a rebate form to send in for free 3900 Design CD, which is normally $299.
Large(4 1/2” X 6 3/4”) and small (3 1/8” X 4 3/4”) hoop. I also bought a Singer giant hoop that is 7 1/2" x 23" and Alphasew cap hoop. Oh, I forgot, if you sign up for allbrands newsletter, there is a coupon code at the top where you can get $10 to $50 off of your order depending on total.

Depending on your budget, and size of embriodery area and items you want to embriodery...this is a great machine at a great price. (I am not a salesperson...just a sewer/quilter who likes bargains when shopping.
Best regards and happy sewing!

mar32428

HI tom, I have sewn on a Singer, Bernina, Brother, Kenmore and Janome for the last umpty years. I found all very good machines for piecing. However when it came to quilting, the machine with the largest throat ( the distance from the needle to the machine body ) was a deciding factor. I now quilt on my Janome which has a 9" throat. More space for the quilt. I really like the automatic thread cutter.

Bernadette Harwood

Do Not buy a baby lock under any circumstances without checking the warranty. It used to be it was only under warranty through the store so if the store closes you were out of luck. It happened to me. I bought a beautiful machine with decorative stitches for $500.00 and it quit working almost right away and the store had closed and Baby Lock wouldn't fix or send money back. I was a sewing machine dealer and got no where with them. I spent another $150.00 getting it fixed and it still didn't work right. I wouldn't buy one or take a free one.

GramMER

The Singer 401 came out in the late 1950"s (oops! telling my age here), but I never had a minutes trouble with that one. That was during the time everyone took pride in their workmanship and things were built to last. I could clean it myself and there were no extra parts to worry about.

You say, "...steer clear of the Singers." You must have really had a lemon. My experience with the 401 was wonderful and no radical computer parts to worry about.

So far I am just as pleased with my Elna, but I worry what the tropical climate will do to it.

Have a good day and use whatever you have to the good of sewing in general.

GramMER

I forgot to mention that I loved my 401 so well, that I bought my 2 daughters one each. A great "fixer" had refurbished several he had found and sold them to me for $35 each. You cannot beat that.

Granted they have their Berninas and their other fancy ones, but when they want to do down and dirty sewing, they go for the old Singer.

GramMER

Kellie G

Hi Tom,

I bought my machine at Sears and it is a Kenmore. I got it probably 10 years ago and have purchased several different presser feet, the 1/4" foot, a walking foot, and an embroidery foot (which I use for meandering).

I have been very pleased with the service this machine has given me and I believe I paid approximately $129 for it back then.

Good luck, and happy quilting to your wife. :)

anet moore

I just bought a Janome 11000 - love it. Top quality but very expensive. I would trust anything they built though so I feel that a Kenmore would be a good choice and much more reasonable in price.

jojo47

Hi, Thomas!

You're most likely overwhelmed with all the input, but here's my two cents, as well.

I've used Singers (not for quilting - I learned to sew on them), Kenmore, New Home (now Janome), and my current Machine is a Pfaff Expression 2038. I love it because it's quiet, sews easily over the 3 quilt layers, has a couple of quilting stitches in addition to almost any number of decorative/fancy stitches a sewer/quilter could want, and the best part of it is the IDT foot (integrated dual feed). You can call it a 'built-in walking foot' - that's how it was described to me -- and it feeds the layers evenly through as you are sewing - no puckers! At least I haven't had any!

My machine was $1,600, but I do know Pfaff has many machines and I'm sure you would find one somewhere in you price range. the best thing to do is take your wife for a 'test drive' and see what she likes....

Comments on my other machines? I loved them all, especially my New Home Memory Craft 6000, but I used it well for over 20 years, and the computer started going out, and the nearest Janmome dealer is over an Hour away. My Pfaff dealer is only a 25 minute drive, and great service.

Good luck on your shopping expedition!

Lady Diana

My response on the Futura 250 was for the comment on looking at buying an embriodery mcahine.

Quilting Machine Search: I think we all need to remember Tom's need for a price range of $350 or so...The Janome 6600 is the greatest quilt machine I have seen ..with the dual feed built in (so no need for walking foot) at $1100...that is still $500 less than pfaff.....however for the $350, the Janome Magnolia is still the best buy ....just need to purchase the walking foot.

Janome has been consistent in responses....we know there are some great machines by other makers out there, but not with the features , quality and the low price....

We hope all of these posted notes help you in your quest.
Happy sewing!