I came into some money in 1995 or so, and bought a used 1630. What a dream! That machine was superb at free motion and I am convinced to this day it is because of the vertical bobbin. I perfected my free motion feathers and started teaching free motion quilting and designing my own quilting patterns. I quilted for Dina Pappas, and had my quilting acknowledged in her first book, Quick Watercolor Quilts!
I sold the 1630 to buy a longarm quilting machine and have since sold that and bought a mid-arm machine and 2 Bernina 180’s. The Bernina’s do the decorative stitch quilting in our book, Crazy Shortcut Quilts (Krause 2007). I borrowed one from my daughter Sarah and bought one from Dina when we thought that the electronics were toasted on Sarah’s machine. Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe fixed her up and now both are humming right along!
