Best and most economical sewing maching for quilting?

Answer 1

I would recommend any of the name brand sewing machines, except Singer. For some reason their quality seems to have diminished over the years. You can go to Joann's or Walmart and find good quality machines for a reasonable price.

If you are planning on machine quilting your quilts, I would recommend looking for a slightly heavier duty machine. You will probably also want to make sure that it has at least a few decorative stitches. Especially for for machine quilting smaller pieces.

Good luck and happy quilting! Welcome to the clan!

Answer 2

Any well-built machine that can do a straight stitch. That'll do for piecing. For quilting, any straight stitcher that can drive the needle through the quilt and batting, and has as much room as possible under the arm of the machine.

You may also want a few additional stitches, but straight stitch is all you really need.

New or used? A Singer 99 or 301 or even a 15 in a cabinet can often be picked up free or nearly so, and all will handle the load when rehabbed a bit ($50-150 most likely). New machines are another possibility -- selectable needle up or down is a nice feature for quilting -- a decent machine that will hold up will probably cost a minimum of about $300 unless you find a good sale. Current champ for value for $ seems to be Janome, who also do at least some of Kenmore's machines.

Me, I prefer Viking/Husqvarna. You'll find staunch defenders of every brand out there that I can think of. Pfaff, with the dual feed feet, is a choice for a lot of quilters. Bernina makes nice machines, but the controls are not intuitive for me, and the prices are high for features added, imo.

Go. Try. Make some test swatches to take along. Sew before you buy a new machine.

Answer 3

For quilting you need just a good basic machine without a lot of fancy stitches. I would look for a used Bernina (mine's an old 830 record) at places that sell used machines or machine repair shops. I have had mine for over 20 years and I bought it used. It has only 30 built in stitches, but it is NOT computerized and that has been a plus. The stitches and tension are always perfect and I have constructed many quilts and garments on it. You want something dependable and most of the cheaper new machines you find at places like Walmart or Joannes are throw aways with a lot of plastic parts that don't hold up.

Answer 4

If you mean that you want to do the piecing, any good quality machine will do fine. Go mid-range, $200 - $300, if you're planning to make more than one quilt, so the motor won't konk out on you.

If you are actually doing the QUILTING on a machine, look for something with a very wide surface, or one that comes with a table that it can sink into to give you a wide surface. A high post would help too.
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Answer 5

I've had Singer and Kenmore, have Husquevarna and 2 brothers. I recommend the brothers 6001. It is easy to use, I take it often to a meeting and it is not heavy has a portable case, and a table that attaches to it to extend working area. Have had no problem with it which I can't say about the Singer and the Kenmore. Would I like a Bernina? Sure, but I can't afford one of those and am not really sure I would spend that much for a machine unless I were selling my work. Good luck and happy quilting.

Answer 6

I am a beginner quilter. I just bought a brother cs100 from overstock.com for 130 dollars. I love it. Its got a lot of stitches I don't know what to do with yet, so there's room to grow. It came with an expandable work table, and several different feet. I think you should decide what you can afford, and what you must have. Of course one of those fancy machines would be great but how many of us can afford 1500 to 8000 dollars. I did a lot of research. Most people will recommend what they like, not necessarily because its a better machine. Do some Internet searches, check out places like epinions.com. Decide what features you want, and what you can afford. Most places have some warranty or money back guarantee. I really would have liked a machine with a wider throat, but I couldn't afford one. So I decided to make do. Good luck to you , and happy quilting.