meanmom

My SIL has the Wal Mart machine. Ok for light sewing like she does but I' not sure I would like it for an every day type of machine. Does it have a needle down position? I would have a hard time FMQ without that. ALso when I FMQ I was told to try sewing with the feed dogs up and the stitch length at 0. You cover the feed dogs with a supreme slider. I feel like my supreme slider while it seems pricey has been worth every penny I paid for it. IN FMQ class the teacher said she found that her stitches on the back came out nicer when she didn't drop the feed dogs. This works well on my Janome.

Pds

My first embroidery machine was a Brother from Walmart. It was great! It did designs as well as my Viking. I have since upgraded----to another Brother!

Lady Diana

Was visiting Walmart for oil change yesterday, decided to go by the machine isle to check them out after reading this discussion, there is a huge difference in weight of the Singer and other Brother machines versus the Project Runway machine....it was so light. This is the one with no metal frame inside that falls apart with very much use. I will try to find that video story to post.

Maire

As for repairs on the big box store brothers-authorized Brother dealers do repair them, and they honor the warranty for whatever is still under warranty. If you call or email Brother over a problem with a Walmart Brother they tell you to take it to an aunthorized dealer & will give you the list of ones in your area. I had a problem with my CS600i foot pedal, took it to local authorizated dealer, pedal replaced, no charge because it was still undder warranty. Of course with any machine from dealer or big box store if warranty has expired then you pay a fee for repairs.

amh

I haven't read all the posts but I agree with Neesie, if you are happy with the machine that you already have just cover the feed dogs. I free motioned for years with the feed dogs covered on my Kenmore. I used the lid of a margarine (or whatever) container cut to fit and taped onto the bed of the machine. I didn't bother making a hole for needle. It did that all by itself when the needle went up and down. The advantage is that you have only a little round hole, not that larger oval one on many plates, which stops some of the problems one has with the thread tangling up in the bobbin area.

Although I have not personally tried it, there are some free motion quilters who insist that one should not drop the feed dogs to free motion quilt. They say it works better for them.

Good luck with the next step in your quilting journey.

amh

Iraxy

I got a Brother sewing machine from WalMart about 10 years ago. I have done all the cleaning and maintenance by myself. It survived 4 cross country trips by plane and 10 years of retreats. An added bonus has been that I can use my Baby Lock feet with it. I love my little Brother that I got at WalMart and it has been worth much more to me than the less than 200 dollars I paid for it.

danlynmartin

The brother 6000i is available from Amazon at a very reasonable price and is great to take for a carry-around machine. It does a great job and is a computer machine with stitches. When my Pfaff had a problem (the first in many years) the 6000 took over and you could not tell the applique done by the Pfaff from the 6000. I haven't try free motion with it as I think it is too light a machine to sew that fast. Will give it a try one day.

AnnT

I've bought several Brothers sewing machines from Walmart and they have been good workhorses. They're real basic but do for general sewing. Mine don't have an adjustable pressure foot which limits the kind of machine quilting I can do on it but for SiD and everyday sewing or making flimsies, they've been great. The ones I have now, I've had for about 10 years and other than the regular maintenance/tune-ups needed for any machine, they have not needed any repairs. The ones I had before these (also Brothers and from Walmart), I had for about 10 years and lost in a house fire.

acraftee24

I have a Brother machine that I purchased over 3 years ago and have never had any trouble with it. I quilt, applique, machine piece quilts, and sew on my all the time. It works great! Just follow the directions for keeping it maintained and no problem. Just because something comes from WalMart does not always mean its not worth having.

amyjo

[QUOTE=Tfch8184;
For me it comes down to quality. You don't get the same type of quality nowadays with big box stores as you get from machine dealer.[/QUOTE]

We live on a farm and you can't say that you always get good quality from the machine dealers either. We have paid a lot of money for stuff from the machine dealers and get screwed too. WM has the same car batteries as some of the machinery dealers etc and have a guarantee on them. I got my car battery there 2 years ago and still going strong. the one DH got at the dealers for his has been replaced 2 times already.