Piercing Question of the Day
Exactly what machine is finessing your latest creation? I’m a relative newbie to quilting, it became my salvation back in 2003 when my first, second and third loves, cross stitch, crochet and needlework became too painful because of hand problems. I joined a quilting guild, and it just seems more and more people either have longarms, or send their work out to be longarmed. As you can see, I don’t even have a computerized machine. Somewhere deep in my psyche I have an aversion to them. Sure I use computers for everything. I work in a computer lab, but there is just something solidly reassuring about a good old fashion all metal machine. If I dig even deeper that film “Red Dawn” lurks. Hey, if there’s ever a power outage can’t I still be among the select few who can still sew. I'd find a belt and foot throttle somewhere. Okay sarcasm aside what machine do you use? I have been following 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs and noticed that she uses a Juki. Hmmmmm all metal parts, larger opening..... Bernina are you listening? I know you've spent 7 years or so developing the new 830.... I love my old 840 and 830 by the way. But how about an all metal machine work horse with needle down (I covet that) just to do machine quilting? And for all you non longarms out there, what do you use???
I just thought Tuesday needed a piercing question of the day.
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6 comments:
I have put the word out to my readers at CG, to help you with your question today.
http://quilting.craftgossip.com/5093/2010/04/06/
Warm regards,
Scarlett Burroughs
Quilting Editor, Craft Gossip
I purchased a Juki 98QE after reading Leah Day's blog and have never regretted it. I love it. I can easily quilt a double size quilt with it. It is economically priced, sews well and can be used with a frame.
I have a Brother PQ 1500S, which I think is very similar to the Juki. Just a straight stitch machine with a big opening, knee lift, needle down & thread cutter. these are great features if you want to do machine quilting with a domestic machine. I bought mine used on e-bay for $700 several years ago and I love it. my other machine is a Bernina 1530, which I bought new almost 20 years ago. I use that if I need decorative or zig zag stitching, such as for machine applique, but the brother is my first choice now for both quilting & piecing. One of my friends just bought a Pfaff 4.0 Quilting expression. It combines a lot of the features of both, has the larger opening & sewing bed, but does a lot more than straight stitch. If I was buying a new machine now and could only have one, that is probably what I would choose.
I spent several months comparing brands and models, which meant stitching samples in-store and attaching them to their brochures, reading many reviews online, and drooling over descriptions on company websites.
About a month ago, I bought a Bernina Activa 210--the simplest Bernina, basically. I realized that what I wanted was a really sturdy, simple machine, and that's exactly what the 210 is. There isn't a stitch on there I wouldn't use, and the quality of the machine is exceptional.
I would definitely recommend the Activa line for anybody looking for a basic but long-lasting sewing machine. They have some nice features in the higher models for anyone interested in doing quilting, too.
I use the old full metal machines - vintage. Because I also use them in treadles, the needle down thing is not a problem. It is very easily solved with my feet. I began using a post WWII Japanese made Class 15 clone (they can be bought for a song) but now I use a 1917 Singer 31K20 because it has over ten inches under the arm, and with the highspeed treadle base it can go very fast! Being in the treadle it can also go very slow if I need to. Great control. And cheap - I paid less than $150 for it.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw the pic of your Bernina 830 original.I have that machine but my daughter uses it. I do all my piecing and machine quilting on my Bernina 930. Both have been such dependable machines. I am taking a machine quilting class this weekend to learn to do more than stitch in the ditch.
Colleen
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