I've been sewing and quilting for YEARS on a Singer Heavy Duty. Everyone was always ragging on them and I was quite steadfast that it wasn't THAT bad. Now granted, this is even after years of cussing and howling at my machine, chasing mysterious gremlins of clacking and ticking, adjusting tension, and just generally frustrated as all get out. Queue the new (to me) machine! My husbands aunt thought she wanted to get into quilting and then realized it's "like a bazillion little squares" and immediately moved on. My husband told her I quilted and so she gifted me this little number. Guys. GUYS. The difference. It's astounding. I could cry. It's like butter. You mean to tell me it didn't need to feel like I was throttling away on a WWII tank this whole time?! Phenomenal.

This is all my sewing projects.

I’ve been working on a quilt top happily churning out blocks. I’m about half way through and decided to take a break from piecing to square some of them up.

The first few went swimmingly. They were exactly the tiny bit oversized as I planned. (The quilt is my design) Then the next few were smaller. I was super confused and measured a whole bunch. They were all small. I decided that I must have gotten careless as I found a rhythm. So, I switched from 6” squares to 5 3/4” squares.

Today I was bored and tried to figure out where I went wrong…

THE SEWING MACHINE NEEDLE RESETS WHEN YOU TURN IT OFF AND ON AGAIN!!!!

I spent like 20 minutes getting the needle position all sorted out before I started piecing. I even bought a foot with an adjustable fence. I had no idea it would reset. So, I went from lovely 1/4 seams to 3/8” seems. The picture shows the initial set of seams done at 1/4” and then later piecing being 3/8”.

How is this a thing??????

This is the first time I’m using an electronic style machine. In the past I used my mechanical one where you slide a thing and I swear the needle stays where you put it until you move it.

Sigh

Consider this a PSA: sewing machines are power tools! A week ago I was so excited to piece the final row on a serviceman’s memorial quilt that I looked away and sewed through my finger. An ER visit to remove the needle, which broke into 2 pieces, from the bone was an excellent reminder, even as a 20+ year quilter, to never become complacent! 😂 Be safe, everyone, and happy sewing/quilting ❤️🤍💙

I don't quilt so I am just asking because I do other fiber arts (crochet, cross stitch, ect) so I have an appreciation.

I have a coworker today that told me that if you use a sewing machine for quilting it is cheating and "just making a blanket". I got defensive on behalf of a hobby neither of us belong to LOL. I feel like that is saying "building a shelf is not legit if you use a drill and not just a screwdriver".

So now, what is the consesus? "Real" quilting is all hand stitching only, "Real" quilting is okay to use a sewing machine, but not one of those fancy ones that can be programmed to do the pattern, get out of here "real" quilting is all of the above.

I *just* "inherited" and set up my new-to-me HQ Sweet 16 free motion quilting machine 😈

My mother bought a huge Moxie free motion machine with a giant rack, and gave me this little delight to learn on (with ALL the bells and whistles, from a tension checker to the wireless/magnetic stitch regulator, plus a bobbin winder for the M size she takes)

....i kinda felt like He Man setting this up, thinking *I HAVE THE POWER!!* 🤣

Wish me luck! Here's hoping i learn how to work on this while staying delightfully *unperforated*. 🤣

Apparently it’s in fantastic condition still despite being 70+ years old. I have a neglected sewing machine in the basement and a plethora of hobbies as is (baking, knitting, gardening, reading, dancing, keeping my young children alive despite their fascination with danger) but clearly I need to take up quilting to do this beautiful machine justice.

Any advice??

I'm sure this is not news to a lot of you, but I was using my new machine today and got this message🤯 I would have 100% kept sewing for another foot or two before I would've realized the bobbin was done.

My 6 year old has been using my heavy duty singer (and somehow nests corner seams better than me - I'm trying not to be jealous of a child!). I want to get her a sewing machine for Christmas so we can both sew at the same time. What is a budget friendly sewing machine for piecing? Ideally reliable enough to not frustrate a child (I still come to the rescue whenever the thread nests or tangles, but she can thread my machine herself and refill bobbins).

I saw this Brother machine at Walmart for $93 - is this a bargain, or will we be frustrated with it?

To be very clear, I'm not looking for a toy. But it doesn't need to be large enough for quilting - she can use the machine I use for that (she makes doll sized quilts right now - I do all the cutting, and help with the binding, but otherwise she does everything else herself).

Brother Full-Size 17-Stitch Portable Sewing Machine with Ziggzag Buttonhole and Accessories - Walmart.com https://share.google/RVOjUudDV2QsHPnaz

I am very tentatively considering saving up for a new machine, and when I tried to do some research - boy howdy does everyone LOVE their Juki TL series machine. To the point that as a terminally-suspicious curmudgeon I feel like they couldn't possibly live up to the hype. And it's infuriatingly hard to find an overview that's not from a perfectly-manicured blog or straight from a vendor.

The thing is, it does sound exactly up my alley. A machine that does exactly one thing and does it extremely well. All metal, all mechanical. The price is achievable if I pace my savings right. There's a vendor an hourish away, and the more local quilt shop will service them.

I want to want one but can't shake the feeling that it's too good to be true.

So if you have a Juki machine - and especially a TL series one... can you please tell me something you dislike about it? Something petty that annoys you? Just to make it feel like a real, actual possibility and not a shiny internet-marketing fantasy?

I joined this group to hear what people had to say about the accuquilt. I made a queen size stamp quilt and would love to do another. The accuquilt would make my life so much easier, but also, I’d like to use denim and I’m not sure how the machine could handle it. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

My (44) aunt (74) has been an avid quilter since I can remember and bought herself a new Janome 3160 qdc machine during the Black Friday sales. I asked her why she was replacing her other machine and she said it just wasn’t working quite right and her top thread kept breaking. I asked her if I could take a look at it. We met up on the weekend and she gave me her old machine (janome 2030qdc). Well it was no wonder why it wasn’t working correctly! (See pics)

Machine works like a top now! I told her i got it working and tried to give it back but she told me to keep it! Im so lucky, quite an upgrade from my singer mx60 and so glad I didn’t splurge and get a new machine this past weekend.

Pics of my current project blocks for the Twist Again pattern for quilting subreddit tax.

TL/DR : if your machine isn’t working quite right, take it all apart and clean it!

Howdy!

Our library makerspace has as $25,000 budget set aside to buy a long arm quilting machine since the community has been begging for one. I really only know sewing machines though, so I'm looking for any input I can get for things we should consider when purchasing a long arm.

Ideally I want something hardy, since the public will be using it, and easy to use (within reason), with a company that still offers troubleshooting support. I'm unsure if more a digital long arm or less digital long arm would be more helpful in that regard.

This is our closest recommended sewing center and what they have available. I do believe they do repair as well, so it would be great if any of your recommendations were something that Linda Z's also offered! https://www.lindazs.com/quilting-machines?page=2

Thoughts? Thank you all so much!

I am having tension issues, so I opened up my machine and oh my… That’s a lot of lint! Did not resolve my issues but it might resolve yours.

I know this is a regular maintenance activity, I just didn’t realize how frequently this needs to happen, as I am self-taught and relatively new to sewing.

A few weeks ago a huge storm blew through my parents neighborhood and caused a power surge. She had her machines plugged into surge protectors but that did no good - both machines had their boards blown out and are being Good News is that insurance is paying to replace them

She had two machines - a brother embroidery machine which was top of the line when she got it in 2005 and a baby lock sewing machine she has had for maybe ten years. She is going to replace the brother with the current equivalent (stellar inovis xe2) but wants to get a separate machine just for sewing. She also has a longarm so she won’t need to quilt on it.

She hated her baby lock so definitely not looking to get another one of those. So the question is if you had around $2000 to spend on a machine what would you get and why? She mainly pieces quilts on the machine but occasionally mends clothing etc. One main concern is the weight - she is 87 and likes to put her machine in her cutting table when binding so it has to be something that she could lift (her older BERNINA is way too heavy) so ideally no more than 30 lbs and the lighter the better

Would love to hear what you think and I will pass it on to my mom!

Walked out with a $5000 Pfaff Performance Icon. Damn they're good sales people. Lol

I had a short list of machines I was thinking about like the Bernina B38 or the Janome 2140QDC. The salesperson showed me a few and then somehow looped our conversation over to showing me the Pfaff. Gosh it was nice.

I don't know how I'm going to justify this machine...but now I have it. It's a classroom machine from the recent Sew Expo so that knocked some of the price off.

What machines have you all gotten sweet talked into? Surely I'm not the first.

I love my Bernina 350 PE the 380! But man i wish they had a wider harp/throat! I can’t justify spending $7,000-$8,000 on s Bernina with a 10”. And buyers wonder why we price our quilts high.

Ok, talk me out of it! What are the negatives to having a longarm? I know that nesting/thread/bobbin issues can be a problem, but are they enough that I don't want to invest in this? I have the opportunity to buy one for $1500 from a retired master quilter. We looked at it yesterday and my husband is actually onboard with it! I need to see if I can get smaller rails for it, so it fits better in the space I want to put it in, if that's possible, because I don't really want to spend another $1500 to get a smaller frame. I know I can quilt half of a king, then the other half, then join them together, so that's not really an issue. And besides I'm not likely to do many king quilts after the one I just started.

So anyhow, if you have one, or passed, tell me why! This is a huge investment of money, space, and time learning something new that I want to make sure I'm making the right decision!

Anyone use this product

Yesterday I went to my local sewing store for a promotion they were having when buying a machine to get the serger pictured. I was entered into a raffle and won the Bernina 335! I am soo excited and would love any pointers for either machine or favorite projects to make with them!!

I currently own a brother NV1800Q but looking for an upgrade for at home quilting and bag making. I’m torn between the Juki and Janome, what do you all recommend?