Sewing Machine Reviews

What brand and model do you have?
How long have you had it?
How much does that machine cost (approximately)?
What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?
How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?
Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?
What features does your machine have that work well for you?
Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?
Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?
What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?
Do you have a dream machine?I found this blog interesting, at Sew Mama, Sew....Wanting to participate and answer a few questions about my sewing machine. But, which one.... I worked in a sewing machine sales store for two years and learned a lot about machines, that I did not know, even though I had sewn for years. The store where I worked sold Bernina, Babylock, Janome & Pfaff. I already owned a Babylock Quilters Pro. I purchased it ten years ago and it is my "go to" machine. It was bought originally thru a close out..the store decided that it was not moving and they were selling off the floor model The list price at that time was about $1200, so I only paid $850. Seems like a lot, since I can now buy the same machine for less than $700, ten years later. But, it is such a good straight stitch machine, metal gears, does have a scissors option.  It is only a straight stitch machine, no bells or whistles. At the time that I purchased this machine, the selling point for me was it had a deeper throat and it came with a extension table. I can free motion with this machine and I love how I can set the feed dogs at one of four levels. I can also adjust the tension on the foot. So, if I am doing something that is heavier fabric, I can apply more pressure to the foot. It has been a great machine. It is actually a re-badged Juki...but, I would not give it up for any other machine.
On the other side of table, I have a Babylock Ellegante. I purchased this machine used. It has a few issues that I have worked around. The foot pedal has a broken place in the cord, so I know that when it does not respond, I just need to wiggle wires...a new electronic foot pedal is $100, so I have been putting off buying one of those. And one of the features of this machine is that I can sew with or without the foot pedal. But, sewing with the foot pedal is for long straight stitches...not, so much quilting.  I bought this machine, because I thought that I would like to do embroidery work and at the time, it was the only machine on the market that was USB friendly for embroidery work. Being able to download an embroidery pattern and move it to the machine with the USB was extremely easy.  But, I really found out that I am not an embroidery person. I like and use the machine for the following reasons. Babylock is extremely easy to learn. It has a hovering foot feature, which lets me set the needle down and the sewing foot to pickup when I stop sewing. It is a great feature. I also like the number of stitches available on the Ellegante. Other features that I like are the speed control, scissor, and the needle threader is great!  I probably would not buy another embroidery machine, because that is not something that I am interested in doing. I said the machine was used and I worked for the store, so I paid $3500 for a used embroidery machine...six years ago.
If I had to buy a machine and Babylock was not available to me, my next line of machines that I would look at would be the Janome. I also, have a couple of Janome machines. But, they are specialty machines. I have a Janome 2030...it is something to carry back and forth to classes, light weight, features are speed control and scissors. The other Janome is very specialized-Janome Expression Felting Machine.