pros and cons of sweet sixteen or a bailey pro 17e

[sillyCat5]

Hi everyone. I am new here and this sounds like a nice and helpful forum. are there any bailey pro 17e or sweet sixteen owners out there? I am considering a sit down mid arm and am thinking of these two. have not actually used either but the info I have found so far sounds good. I have limited space and arthritis so a stand up one is out of the question. any info on experiences with either one would be welcome.

[billizzy]

Dont know about the bailey but I do love the Sweet 16. I dont have one but everyone I talked to loves theirs. I will mention your post in sew ins. Lots of LA ers over there they may know a thing or two:))

Izzy

[auntjana]

I have a Handiquilter with the 24 inch throat. It is one that you are supposed to stand to use, but also due to arthritis, I sit, using a barstool height swivel chair. Works wonderfully for me.

I had a smaller LA and found that it was to small in the throat area for me to quilt the patterns that I wanted. That is why I now have the bigger machine.

Remember that you will have to move the quilt with those machines and that might be a problem with arthritis. The stand up machines glide very easily on their sleds and roll the quilt with very little effort.

It is a expensive investment, so do a lot of homework and try out the stitching many times on all of the machines.

Hope that this may help,
Jana

[corning]

I have a Bailey 15". I love the machine; however, I have it on a machine quilting frame that I do not like. I have had it about 10 years. Remember that it is made by a small family business. One of my friends ordered one and didn't like the lack of sophisticated instructions. They are a phone call away and I have only had to call once. I also have the stitch regulator. The determining factor for me was price. The Sweet Sixteen is more expensive. Hope this helps

SharonS

[cindyg]

I have a HandiQuilter-16 w/stitch regulator and it's on the studio 16' frame. I stand to quilt unless I'm working in one area only (like a block) where I don't need to walk back and forth. When I do quilt in one spot, I use a tall barstool. I test drove every machine out there at the Houston Quilt Show for 2 years in a row and decided on the HQ because of the smoothness, less vibration. We got a good deal since we bought the HQ that the representative was demonstrating with. I really don't know much about the sit down models like the Sweet 16 but my suggestion is to go to a quilt show and try out everything you can find. I've had mine 5 or 6 years and now there are more quilting machines than even back then. Everyone likes something different about machines just like with our sewing machines so you really need to test drive them yourself.

[meka]

I have a Tiara sit down long arm. Larger quilts are harder to manipulate but with patience and resting when you tire I think you would be okay. I have a bad shoulder nd really do not have much trouble.