The Search For the Perfect Machine, Part 2: Pre-test-drive analysis

(The first post in this series can be found here)

In this post, I’m going to describe the features of each machine, share some reviews and my initial thoughts, and explain how I am testing them all out!

Before we begin looking at the machines, I want to mention that my gut reaction is to get a Bernina. I want to have my machine for 40 years like my nana had her Elna and my mother her Viking. Bernina has a great reputation and their machines seem to last a lifetime. They are expensive, but people say they are worth every penny. However, some features common to the Bernina machines that don’t cost 10K+ don’t fit with my needs; hence my broader search.

Two great sources for machine reviews are Pattern Review and the Sew, Mama, Sew machine review. Check them out if you're in the market!

The machines

1. Janome 6600

Price range: $1100 to $1400

Reviews: The reviews of this machine that I have read are universally positive, and a few of my friends own it and love it. There are too many reviews to list, so just look in the two sites above and you will find great reviews aplenty. I’ve heard that it could be better at free-motion quilting. However, a brief perusal through the catalog of submissions for this year’s MQX shows how many national-level quilters are using this machine for just that, so I’m a bit skeptical!

Pros: dual-feed system, large harp area (9”), presser foot pressure adjustment, number of stitches (very large for a machine in this price range)

Cons: none so far

2. Elna 7300 (Quilting Queen)

Price range: $1100 to $1500

Reviews: Every review I’ve been has been very positive, but I don’t know anyone who owns one (see here and here; Pattern Review reviews in this thread). This is exactly the same machine as the Janome 6600, according to one reviewer who actually contacted Janome to ask about this (Janome makes Elna now), except for a few modifications: there are two or three extra decorative stitches on the Elna and the Elna has a more powerful motor. Everything else I the same, so the same pros and cons above apply!

3. Bernina 350 Patchwork Edition with Bernina Stitch Regulator (BSR)

Price: I was quoted $1149 for the machine, and I know the BSR function costs an additional $900 (yeah, I know…that’s one expensive foot!), bringing the grand total to just over $2000

Reviews: This is a new machine, so there aren’t any reviews yet, which makes me nervous. But it is a more budget-friendly option for me than the 440, so I will seriously consider it.

Pros: Comes with all of the quilting attachments I need, is a very sturdy machine with fewer bells and whistles (and thus fewer opportunities to explode on me and leave me machine-less) than others

Cons: Small harp space, small number of stitches, isn’t really a lot of machine for the price

4. Janome Horizon

Price range: All seem to be at about $3000.

Reviews: Mixed, but skewed toward the positive (see blog reviews here, here, here, and here). Most forum posts about this are very positive. The negative reviews are almost exclusively from the first production of the machine, which Janome admits had some issues (and they subsequently fixed the issues). There is one lady who got one of these machines, hated it, and has since spewed as much vitriol as possible about the Horizon all over the internet. I’m not posting any of her sites here, but it should be easy to find if you’re curious. People have had problems with their dealers in relation to these machines, especially if the dealer is located outside of the US. A few of the negative reviews I read ended with the person getting a 440 instead and loving it (score one for 440).

Pros: automatic single needle plate converter (my machine has made me terrified of my fabric getting eaten, so this is a big plus for me), 11” of harp space, built-in organizational spots in the machine (I’m obsessed with organization), dual-feed system, automatic thread cutter, GIGANTIC extension table

Cons: the mixed reviews (I have bad luck and if something is going to break on someone, I guarantee it will be me)

5. Elna eXcellence

Price: $2500

Reviews: none yet…yikes!

Pros: 11.5” of harp space, wide range of stitches and functions

Cons: seems to be more geared toward garment sewing, though I wouldn’t say that is necessarily negative

6. Bernina Aurora 440QE

Price range: $2800-3500

Reviews: there are too many good reviews of this machine to list, but here are a couple. The reviews I have read for this machine are universally positive. Owner after owner calls it her “dream machine.” Nobody has even complained about the small harp space, which is my biggest concern. If I wanted to buy a machine on reviews alone, this is the one I would choose. But I don’t want to do that, obviously.

Pros: BSR, comes with great quilting attachments, and has a range of stitches I think I will actually use

Cons: small harp space (this is the biggest con for me as harp space is one of the main reasons I began looking at getting a new machine to begin with), price (absolute top of my range), small extension table, and it seems to be not very much machine for the money…I’m worried I’ll regret buying something this small

Now onto the test drive...

The Search For the Perfect Machine, Part One: Background

If you aren’t at all interested in purchasing a sewing machine (or in the intricacies of the machines on the market these days, or in my personal quest for one), then ignore this post and I’ll be back with sewing projects later. But I have benefited so much from the online sewing machine reviews out there (though I haven’t even bought a machine yet), and I hope to help other people who are looking to buy make an informed decision as well. So here goes: the story of my quest for a machine.

I received my first sewing machine for Christmas about a year and a half ago. It was a mid-range Kenmore from Sears and in most ways, it is a very good machine—so good, in fact, that I had taken to saying that I was very “utilitarian” when it came to sewing machines, and I didn’t anticipate buying a new one anytime soon. Mine seemed to perform the basic functions that I needed: it sewed a straight stitch (if not very well), had the needle up-needle down function (which I love and now cannot live without), and I could free-motion quilt if I really wanted to and had lots of time to unpick lines of stippling. My mother, who sews professionally, told me that it was a good starter machine, and I could upgrade when I figured out what I loved doing and what features I needed to accomplish my sewing goals. I was like, “Whatever, Mom. Who cares about sewing machine features, as long as the machine works?”

It is an excellent machine for the casual sewer or quilter (check out the reviews here). Less than a year after I got the machine, however, I pebble-quilted a quilt that was less than 46” square. Quilting that pattern broke the machine, as well as did considerable damage to the quilt that took me days to fix. I also watched Criminal Minds the entire time I did it and had nightmares for weeks. I learned two good lessons that day.

My machine was deemed irreparably damaged by the terrifying Sears technician lady, and the company gave me a new one (after a LOT of arguing…NEVER EVER buy anything from Sears. They have the worst customer service on the planet). The “issues” that I did not realize were issues in my first machine are very problematic in my second one: the tension is horrible (I can’t ever achieve correct tension), the machine constantly sucks the fabric down into itself, I get nests on the back of every line of stitching, the bobbin winder doesn’t work, the harp is extremely small, etc etc.

And yet, I still wasn’t thinking about getting a new machine. My machine is special to me because it was my first real sewing machine and the best gift I’ve ever received (thanks, Mom!), and it does feel like a bit of a betrayal to get a new one.

But then one day I got to thinking about quilting either of my two recent (and large) projects on my machine. I knew it wouldn’t work. And I started to get so frustrated by the bobbin thread nests on the back of every piece of fabric I sew. And I realized it is somewhat sad that my machine simply cannot sew through more than four or layers of fabric without creating teeny tiny stitches that are impossible to rip out. And also…I should be able to sew through Shot Cotton or any slightly shreddy fabric without the machine eating it and trapping fibers in the bobbin race.

So it was time for a new machine.

Luckily, MQX took place two days after this resolution, and the very first machine I tried was the machine that had become my Ultimate Sewing Machine Fantasy: the Aurora 440QE. The Bernina Stitch Regulator feature was mind-blowing (see a great review/instruction guide on it here). The 440, however, is extremely expensive, and the harp space is narrower than I would like it to be.

Which brings me to now.

I have looked through every sewing machine forum and review and joined every Yahoo group imaginable. I have narrowed my search down to several contenders, which I have grouped together Final Four-style (matched in groups of two by price). The contenders are:

1. Janome 6600

2. Elna 7300 (Quilting Queen)

3. Bernina 350 PE with BSR

4. Elna eXcellence

5. Janome 7700 (Horizon)

6. Bernina Aurora 440QE

Come back tomorrow for a list of reviews and the features of each machine. I will do a side-by-side comparison of all of the features pre- and post-test-drive! Now off to the dealership to try a few of them out...

Mountains Beyond Mountains (with apologies for harsh lighting conditions)

Sewing has been on the backburner over here lately, owing to my incredibly hectic work schedule, but I sewed the final seam on this quilt top yesterday during my lunch break, and I am JUST. SO. HAPPY with it.

When I finally stepped away from the completed top and stared at it spread across the living room sofa, I felt like I had just scaled a mountain. Which doesn't really seem to require much, if you've been watching the Discovery show Everest, where people with terrifyingly little climbing experience (or common sense) pay vast sums of money to scale the mountain with the help of 43 sherpas and a team of yaks.

But back to the quilt.

There are one thousand and thirty-five triangles in this behemoth, which measures an acceptable 73" square. Not as big as I'd like, but still a usable size. This quilt would definitely not win any quilt shows; there are three or four (or ten) areas where the points just didn't match up, but the Quilt Police don't live near me, so I think I'll be okay.

Quilting, as always, is stalled...this time because the backing fabric I bought from Fabric.com (in my last ever purchase from them as their customer service is abominable) just doesn't seem to be very high-quality, and I would hate to ruin a quilt I love so very much with a poor-quality backing fabric. I know it will destroy my machine to do this, but I really want to use Minky on the back...is that so bad?

Have a great weekend, everyone! I hope you'll all spend it sewing. I'm spending it making room in my sewing area for my new sewing table...

Stripes & Solids--the top and back

Just when I thought I would never have the chance to photograph this lovely top and back, we had a sunny evening in Boston and Amy left work early to help me hang them on the fence in the courtyard of my building (definitely a two-person job).

This is the second in my Amish quilts series. It was inspired by a quilt in an excellent book on Amish quilts, Amish Abstractions (you can see my review of it in that link. I'm trying write enough reviews to become a member of Amazon Vine so I'll get free quilt books. So far, I've written two).

Attaching the large borders to the center square in my incredibly small sewing area was difficult, but I persevered and am just so happy with the result. All I did was cut down the middle of several yards of fabric and attach it, so the borders are 22" and the center square is 44", for a grand total of 88" square.

Constructing the back was much more frustrating than piecing the top. As I said in my earlier post about this quilt, I got a little rotary-cutter happy and cut strips from three yards of fabric for the top. Of course, you don't use that much fabric in a 44" square, so I had quite a few leftover strips from which to piece the back.

Sewing them up was a complete nightmare. There are two parts of quilting I don't like: cutting (in general) and sewing long, thin strips. I bought an Accuquilt to deal with the first issue, but the second is unavoidable. So I created a battle plan and plunged in. Twenty 1"x88" strips later, I was finished...but I never wanted to sew a strip again. When we were photographing this yesterday, Amy (unprompted) said it looked hard to sew so many thin strips together. I informed her I was still having flashbacks about it. Luckily, I had had three seasons of Vicar of Dibley to get me through. Someone tell me I'm not the only person besides my grandmother who is obsessed with that show.

I do plan to quilt this on my own machine (gasp) and am actually in the process of looking for a new sewing table right now to make the quilting process easier on myself (in general...not just for this quilt!). I don't know if quilting it myself is crazy or not. Of course, I am considering going back to Laurena's to use her Sweet Sixteen because she has (much) more table space. But it's also free to do it at my own apartment.

I think I want to quilt it with concentric circles. I was planning to do a diagonal grid, which I do enjoy, but I've seen several quilts quilted that way in blogland over the last few weeks, and I'm already starting to get a little tired of the pattern.

I'm in Philly for the weekend doing something very exciting with a special friend of mine! I can't wait to tell you all about it when I return. Happy sewing!

Kindle case 3.0

I swear this will be the last Kindle case I post (even though I have a fourth in the works, haha). What can I say? It's an adorable and practical gift, and a good way to highlight some of my precious fabrics. The exterior fabric I used for this one was purchased as a special treat for myself (though isn't everything?) at the New England Quilt Museum shop. It was very expensive, but very worth it. I bought two fat quarters in different colorways. The interior fabric is a KF shot cotton, and I have no idea what color it is because it is at least a year old.

I used regular batting and lightweight interfacing this time, as well as exclusively cotton fabrics, and those choices made all the difference in the world. I really struggled with getting good points on the last ones, for which I used wool fabric, heavy interfacing, and wool batting. For the record, I also used the same pattern and made the same modifications for this one as for the last two.

This one is going to a good friend of mine who is in her last weeks of pregnancy and spending a lot of time sitting around at home (I am, of course, in the process of making a quilt for her baby). My only concern is that this case might be a little more muted than she would want, but hopefully she will pretend to like it.

And finally, I am really hoping to get some good photos of my Stripes and Solids quilt for my brother soon. It's difficult to find a space to photograph an 88" square!

WIP Wednesday...with images this time!

Greetings from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I am visiting law schools/quilt shops for the next several days! I arrived this morning, dropped my belongings off at my hotel (chucked my bag into my room), and immediately went to (ran and then sped to) what I had heard was the mecca of quilt stores: Ann Arbor Sewing Center. To give you an idea of its size and selection, the store has a 32' long wall for thread alone. AASC is about twice the size of the house I grew up in, with a room for just notions that is larger than my current apartment, though that probably doesn't say much to those of you who have been there. I actually managed to leave without breaking the $100 mark, but only because they couldn't guarantee that a sewing machine accessory I wanted would actually fit my machine. Thank God for small miracles. I'd rather buy fabric than eat, but I have to impose limits on myself once in a while (or have them imposed on me...whatever).

Before I left, I did take pictures of my Ocean Waves quilt, on which I am slowly and steadily progressing. I love this quilt, but I can only do so much at once. Each square has almost 150 triangles. It can be a bit overwhelming, and the last block I did was completely disastrous (at least in terms of my ability to match points). Some of my cut triangles must have been very misshapen. It's a feat of willpower to cut ~1,000 triangles over two nights (so much so that I just had to buy an Accuquilt so it would NEVER, EVER happen again).

The as-yet-unnamed Ocean Waves quilt is the first quilt in a series I am doing of Amish-inspired quilts. The Ocean Waves pattern was very common among the Amish from the late 1800s to early 1900s, though I'm not sure if it is anymore. I developed the "pattern" for my quilt myself, and although the blocks are slightly larger than I expected (and larger than how they usually appear in Amish quilts), they are not larger than I generally prefer. I think they're very bold and graphic, which is exactly the look I wanted to attain. The Amish almost never used whites or beiges for their background fabrics, but I felt that my fabric choices were so...hmm, in-your-face?...that they required a "blank" space for the background.

Hopefully sewing them together and matching all of those points will not be horribly traumatic. I have four blocks so far, and I only need one more full block and four half-blocks to finish the top. The blocks are ~24" across when square, but ~36" across on point (which is how they are assembled), so it will be a ~70x70 finished quilt. Not quite as big as I'd like, but you can't have everything.

I will list the fabrics again once I finish the top, but I'm posting them here now so I don't forget. The triangle/focus fabrics are: Amy Butler Solids in Periwinkle; FSDS in Grape, Red, and Olive; Moda Bella Solids in Turquoise; Kona in Cerise, Rose, and Violet; and Quilter's Linen in Orange. The center square/background fabric is Moda Bella Solids in Antique White. It is my understanding that Moda no longer produces this color, and now I must obsessively hoard the 3.5 yards that remain (I reallyreallyreally love this neutral).

Back soon with photos of my recent completed quilt top and back!

Stripes and solids!

I have a new quilt in progress, this time for my brother Taylor (forget what I said about gift quilts, heh heh...he's been begging for one, and this is for Christmas). The inspiration for this quilt came from one of my favorite Amish quilt books.

This is the 44" center square of what will, I hope, become a quilt of 84"-86" square.

I cut out 8.5" square pieces of paper and string-pieced 1.5" strips of three color ranges of fabric (green, cerulean, and plum) with one gray and one black fabric. This 44" square went through several iterations on top of my duvet cover (downside of paper-piecing: paper doesn't stick to my makeshift design wall).

The gray is FSDS Dogwood (which looks remarkably similar to Ash...I had to sub Ash in one of the blocks because I ran out of Dogwood, and now I can't even remember which one it was), and the black is Moda Bella Solids in Black. I am hoping to find a richer black for the border. The colored strips are FSDS Emerald, Hummingbird Blue, Red Plum, and Oriental Blue; and Kona Cactus, Plumberry, and Pacific.

Naturally, I got slice-happy with my rotary cutter because I was distracted by the television, cut about three times as many strips as I needed, and now have a bunch of 1.5"x 44" strips I must use to piece the back.

I have big plans for how I'm going to quilt it, which do not involve the longarm...I've discovered I don't love it as much as I thought I would! Not being able to see the quilt while you're working on it is so frustrating.

I hope to have a completed top to show you soon. It will be my first completed quilt top since October or November, eeek!