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Brother Innovis QC

Hope I got the name right, anyway, it's the Brother, designed for quilters machine, I went into the local shop that I've been very happy with in terms of supporting my non American machine (they don't even sell Janomes, but they could still get me replacement bulbs for 240V). The two machines that they had specifically designed for quilters was a Pfaff, which to be honest didn't do anything for me, it had numerous features that were just like the bits I don't like about my Janome. Then they showed me the Brother, I was in heaven! Everything is included and the extension table is enormous. One thing I really liked was that you can set it to sew at a constant speed and not use the foot pedal, so I could just set my feet level on the ground and be nice and balanced and focus on moving the fabric at a constant speed and even without practising it looked good.

It seemed to be a machine that has everything, some things that weren't on my essentials list, but I think will be useful. I tested the thread cutter and it does it neatly with both a bit over an inch long, which is long enough to grab easily to snip, or to thread in with a self threading needle.

The usage mostly seems fairly intuitive, but I'm the kind of person that once I learn something it sticks pretty well. The instruction manual is long, but not overwhelmingly so and the sections I looked at seemed to be fairly clear. The shop offers unlimited lessons anyway.

The other machine I've been considering is the middle of the 3 HV Sapphires, there are others I would like to consider, but I think the benefit of a local, trusted dealer is too great to ignore. The Brother is more expensive, but not all that much, it's about twice the MSRP, but the current offer will run until Christmas and it's more than twice that of the Sapphire, when you add on all the bits that are not included with the Sapphire, it's still at least 300 dollars less.

The kind of questions my husband is asking is how long will it last and I really can't answer that, does anyone know what's reasonable to expect with heavy, consistent use? What about maintenance, it seems like people are saying HVs don't need oiling, not that oiling a machine particularly bothers me, but it's worth knowing! Also, does anyone happen to know if Brothers are available in the UK? The way DH is talking I think we'll be back there well within the lifetime of a sewing machine. I already have a voltage adaptor and if it's not powerful enough, I know I can get a bigger one for not too much.

Does anyone have this machine and what do you think of it?

Anne

Reply to
Anne Rogers
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You can get some Brother machines in the UK, but not the high end ones - that I could find. I went searching online to check out the Brother Quest (after the discussions here). I rang one 'Brother' dealer and she rang her Brother agent straight away. She phoned me back to say that they had no plans to sell that here. Rats! Can you have a look at Google.co.uk (instead of .com)? You might get an idea there - if you clicked on the UK pages. I didn't spend a whole lot of time - I usually look for a bit, find a phone number and consult a human! . In message , Anne Rogers writes

Reply to
Patti

Dunno about Brothers but the Janome ME350 I recently indulged in will take 50 or 60 Hz AND 110 or 230V automagically. I didn't discover that until I had bought the machine and it was specifically stated in the manual. It would be worth asking the dealer if you could look at the specifications in the accompanying literature.

Have fun looking & choosing.

How's the hip now?

Lizzy

Reply to
Lizzy Taylor

I think you might have things a little mixed up, the only sewing machine called Quest that I'm aware of is by BabyLock, so I'm not sure whether you asked a Brother dealer about a machine that doesn't exist, or a BabyLock dealer and they really aren't selling it in the UK. I found the UK webpages and they are what you might expect, brother.co.uk and babylock.co.uk. Brother seems to have the same range of machines available, including the QC1000, but the babylock.co.uk site looked very unprofessional and no mention of the quest, so I guess you are out of luck there.

The UK tends to be much more upfront about telling you the price of things, so the Brother machine is RRP 949 and this kind of thing is likely to sell at RRP almost all the time. The MSRP in the US is 2999, though apparently you'd never buy it at that price, it's currently 1999 in our local shop, basically exactly the same cost as in the UK, which is unusual, I wonder where they are made. It will actually cost more as I think UK RRPs include the VAT, whereas here I'll have to add on the sales tax.

Cheers Anne

Reply to
Anne Rogers

I managed to download the manual of the Australian site, it didn't seem to be available on the US one, I wouldn't usually try other sites, but for some reason I did and I was able to read through the manual, I didn't notice anything about power changing. I'll dig around and see if I can find a manual for the Sapphire, so I can compare.

Well I went to Joanns, Pacific Fabrics and the sewing and vac store, so I had a pretty busy morning, it seemed like once I was out, I might as well stay out, though I'm paying for it now, but it's not too bad, more achy than pain, but it's a pretty big ache! As I understand it the order for crutches and 75% weight bearing was more to prevent falls and breaking the head of the femur (not an insignificant risk for this particular surgery), but I don't think I'm actually using it that much and that's from a pain perspective, which means I don't know how transitioning off crutches in under 2 weeks time will go. I'll be doing therapy in the pool before then, so that might give me a better idea. It will be frustrating if I need to use crutches longer.

Thanks for asking.

Anne

Reply to
Anne Rogers

Yes, sorry - but that is because the Babylock Quest - if it were around

- would be under the Brother label (she said that 'they' said!). I don't understand really, but I suppose it all depends on the actual maker. I can check for the Innovis specifically, if you like. .

Reply to
Patti

I did find the Innovis QC quite easily, at the top of the first Google page. So it is obviously around over here. The prices I saw were under £1000 - like £950/995 that sort of thing. . In message , Anne Rogers writes

Reply to
Patti

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