Oklahoma Suzie

Hi and welcome from Oklahoma

Andie

Try a number of machines before you buy, Take pieces of fabric you will be using and if they won,t let you try don,t buy there. The built in walking foot on the Pfaff is great but you can buy a walking foot for other machines . Bernina must use Bernina attachments some othe r machine you can use generic feet. Buy the best you canafford and make sure service is near and that you can have lessons Good Luck. ( used to sell machines)

Campbell34

I have a new 830 Bernina with all the bells and whistles,BUT I also have an old 930 Bernina, with knee lift, not much else,a few decorative stitches, the reason I bought it in the first place I wanted to do free motion stuff, I had just bought a new sears for $450.000, when I took a free motion sewing class, all my friends had the project finished and I was still sweating blood to get it done , They had Bernina and Viking machines, The next day I went to my credit union and asked for enough money to buy the new 930 bernina , the price had dropped to $1,300.00 because it was a demonstrator, I paid it off $30.00 a month, my paycheck at that time was $5.00 an hour 20 hours a week as a council on aging home health aide , I have never been sorry, the speed of the Bernina for freee motion is perfect and smooth , Ten years ago I did a lot of sewing for a couple of professional Knitting friends in Salt Lake City putting together ski hats and cut and sew sweaters, At that time I was offered $1,000.00 for my Bernina , I bought my new 830 in November of this year, I was offered $900.00 cash for my old 930 bernina ,I live several hours from my Bernina Dealer, ,he is as close as my phone ,Last year I bought the 440QE, it was a very nice machine, and I loved the self threading , several other features and the knee lift or the push button start ,great but it must be hooked up to a computer to use the embriodery part, when the quilt show came to Lake Havasu in November, the dealer was there ,he offered me back every dime I put into it for the new 830, My husband was so impressed with the features he encouraged me to buy it , At my age 75 it will be the last machine I will ever need to buy , I hope to live to be 100, as I have tooooo many quilts to make yet, I am enjoying every minute of it , I sew every day, I have just made a shopping bag and a bow tie purse from scraps, going to put together a quilt top and quilt it on the machine getting these things ready for a family reunion in Oklahoma in April, wanted to donate some raffle items and a bid item :lol:

Rachelcb80

Omigosh, omigosh! My wonderful, loving, fabulous husband (okay, so I don't always describe him like that) just called to tell me he was walking out of the Bernina store with a brand new 440 QE! To say I'm excited is putting it mildly. Yay, yay, YAY! I had no idea he was going to do that today. Looks like I don't have to stress over which machine to get anymore. LoL

(The owners of the store are apparently very nice people according to my husband and they told him to have me come in this weekend to go over all the stuff and to set up some classes for me to attend.)

Tink's Mom

Yippee! You have a real winner...Husband and machine.....

euclid

Whatever you buy, make sure you have a dealer/service location nearby so you can keep it in good running order for years since these machines are quite an investment these days. Lessons are also helpful if your machine of choice has any fancy bells and whistles. I must admit I have had Berninas for years and they do sew beautifully. My dealer does take trade ins when people want to go up a model; she then services the trade ins and resells them. That might be a route to take if you really want the 440QE. I have that model and it is great. It has been out for about 5 years so there may be some trade ins to be had if you have a Bernina dealer nearby. Make sure to haggle for the walking foot! You'll definitely want it if you are going to become a died in the wool quilter.

dakotamaid

I have the basic "patchwork edition" Bernina. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles others do but it does what I want it to and didn't cost an arm and a leg. I have had it 4 years and never had a problem.

nursie76

Oh my gosh! Rachel I am soooooo happy for you! I bet you are doing the hApPy DaNcE all over the place.

I just know you will love your 440QE as much as I do! AND if you ever decide you want to embroider, you have that option. That hubby of yours is definitely a keeper! Make sure you take the classes offered by your dealer. Not only do you learn all the ins and outs of your machine, but you start building a great relationship with that dealer.

Congrats! and ENJOY! (oh, pics of the projects please ;) )

Jingle

I have two Juki TL98QE Machines, Yes they are basic, but, they will hold up to 8 hours or more to FMQ and still keep sewing. I doubt a cheap machine would hold up to that kind of use. I also have a Quilters Star quilting machine and it could not handle the load. If I need to do fancy stitches I have two other machines I can use. I only quilt with the Jukis and straight stitches is all I use. They also come with a heavy duty Darning foot - used for FMQ, Compenating foot - Heavy duty for 1/4" seams - Straight foot and a heavy duty walking foot. I haven't seen such heavy duty feet before. Juki is all metal - no plastic parts. Very worth the money. I have had them for 4 & 3 yr.s. It also has the knee lift for pressure foot,thread cutter, and comes with metal bobbins and needles and a good easy to read manual. They have the up/down push button.

Quilt Mom

Enjoy your machine! I hope we get to see pictures of your quilts. ;)