The Do-It-All Machine: Duetta-Embroidery, Sewing & Quilting

Yup, that is correct! It is indeed called the  Do-it-all Machine or the Duetta and Brother has finally understood the need for combining the loves of many who indulge in all three activities.  I had seen the Duetta at my Brother dealer not too long ago but did not get a chance to really work with it. I had written a short summary of it here on my blogpage and last week at the Round Bobbin Show, I really got to test drive this new baby and all I have to say is WOW!

Those of you who have the 4000D can upgrade their machines making it the 4500 or the  Duetta. The stitch quality is much better than what the 4000 had (in embroidery) and the ease with which one can convert it to a quilting or sewing machine is extraordinary. The quilting table is equivalent to that of the QC1000 and that does give a lot of space for quilting. Ofcourse I’m still amazed at its ability to convert any design into an applique patch and ofcourse not to mention the wonderful addition of all the decorative stitches in the sewing area that can now be imported into the embroidery area. That in itself is great! It does have the capability to  use a mouse which makes it so much easy to create  your own stitches and I have played a bit with that.LOL…Yup! you guessed it….I came home with the Duetta!

The Round Bobbin Show at St. Charles, MO was quite a success and I was so glad to have Carolyn and my hubby be my companions at the show. Carolyn did bring out a new bag pattern which hopefully she will be uploading to her website shortly. I did manage to get the new pattern at the show and although have not had a chance to stitch it out yet, but I certainly have my eye on it.

Our booth certainly attracted a lot of attention and I was so glad to see and visit with many friends there. Somehow both Carolyn and I manage in the end to showcase all that we can in the allotted space and this time was not any different. We did have the Duetta at our booth, courtesy of Heyde Sewing, stitching out lace ornaments from Kanta Lace 8 all the time.

Anyone who visited the booth was surprised that an embroidery machine was running constantly at all the time while we were talking! It definitely is that quiet and not once did I have to worry about thread nests, breaks etc. The threading system is similar to that of the 4000 which is very stable and unlike the 4000 the back side of the embroidery is quite nice. I believe there was an issue with that some while back but seems to me it is fixed now…at least with the Duetta.

I did have a hands on class and to those friends who had ever written me emails regarding needles coming out of their machines….well, I think I learned and saw firsthand the frustration of those who had the earlier ULT 2001 and the Ellageos. There was a definite issue with some of those machines where the needle would simply pop out of the needlebar for no apparent reason! I had it happen constantly in my class! No, it is not the design, no it is not the machine…it is the needlebar. There was a recall on that particular issue quite some while back, something like four or five years ago. Nevertheless, despite the issue, all were able to finish the design of the freestanding rose in class and leave the class wearing it! LOL, no I’m not a tough teacher, just adamant in making sure that all my students get what they came for.

The new hoop with the Duetta is certainly a dream and I do hope that Brother will create one for the other machines as well including the PR series. The hoop is based upon a spring action where the inner hoop constantly resides within the outer hoop. A simple push of the button and the inner hoop raises up allowing one to slide in fabric/stabilizer. I’m not too sure about the clamping system yet. It seems fine with the finer fabrics but heavy towels etc may have to be done using a sticky stabilizer or pinning to the stabilizer rather than inserting. But then I have not completely mastered all  on it yet and will write more on it later.

After three days of hectic times, I was sad to see Carolyn leave. Here is a picture of both of us on the last day. I think we were quite tired out but happy to have been together again and to have shown a piece of what all can be accomplished via my designs and via her purses to a lot of friends.

As for the Duetta, it has a lovely space for itself in my sewing room already and my ULT2003 (lil’ baby) is at my dealer getting itself serviced. I do intend to sell my ULT and no it does not have the problem of the needle falling out….I honestly for all these years had thought that it was just a user error! Now, I think I will pay a bit more attention when friends tell me something like this. We all learn, including myself.