Brother machines

Welcome back, Lynn. Nice to see you again. Be careful about the " Hi ladies " bit though. We have some fellows here and they are fine quilters. That said, your question is one that we will never agree on. I think it is good to have the sewing machine and the embroidery machine separate. My embroidery machine sits over on a counter and she can be stitching and dinging happily without interfering with my sewing. If the embroidery machine goes berserk, I can still sew. If you and your Elna are happy together, I recommend getting an embroidery machine and keeping the Elna. IMHO of course. Polly

Don't have one, but we've said it before: test drive! Take along some of your own thread and fabric, and just try how it machine pieces.

So, I have a few questions for you. Do any

I have had the Innovis 1500D for five or six years now. I have used it heavily for embroidery and have not had any issues with it. In fact, it's never been back for even a servicing. Yes, I know! But I have come to the conclusion that you keep the machines clean, oil the wick, or whatever, and take them in when they break. I've had issues with machines taken in for routine servicing, and coming back with problems.

I have not really used it for piecing or general sewing of any kind, except to try out the stitches. It seemed to work well, and easy to use. It has the GREATEST NEEDLE THREADER ever invented. I mean, it beats the Horizon all hollow on needle threading. It's a different design from the usual machine needle threader. And the machine sews SIDEWAYS. Yes, it will sew in eight different directions. I didn't believe it either, but it does. The stitch quality sideways isn't quite as good, but it's perfectly acceptable. I wish I had this machine when I used to have to patch jeans all the time!

The machine does have the modern wide feed dogs, and it's my theory that narrow feed dogs are better for quarter-inch piecing. But that's just my theory, and others disagree. Anyway, it seems like wider feed dogs are standard on all but low-end or straight-stitch machines, so they might be hard to find even if you wanted them. I would think the Innovis would be as good for piecing as any other machine in its class. I don't know for sure because that's what I have the older Bernina for.

The harp area is a pretty big, although not as big as some of the newer machines. Still, it would be good for wrestling a quilt through, should you want to use it for that. It's a high-shank machine and comes with a walking foot and hopping foot.

I do agree that it's better to have separate machines for sewing and for embroidery. That said, I do find that I have to "babysit" the embroidery machine enough (thread changes, the occasional thread break) that I seldom get much other sewing done while embroidering, even though I have another machine sitting close by. The Innovis isn't hard to convert from sewing to embroidery - just press the release and slide off the embroidery arm. The screen immediately changes from the embroidery options to the sewing options.

Iris

I would go with the 1500, because it has the largest hoop capabilities. The

Thank you everyone! All very useful information. What to do, what to do. :)

Lynn

I don't know where they are tonight but there are several quilters here who have sewing machines that also do exquisite embroidery. Jenx can knock your socks off with her combination machine. Wonder what they're up to? Polly