Baby Lock Ellegante (BLG)

I love, love, this machine! So far, any of the errors have been mine with the learning curve. I do not know what to say about those problems mentioned above. I admit that at a store that carries Viking and Pfaff. I have seen (apparent) lemons there as well as (apparently) abused machines by owners. It is a tough call from the retail end. It looks like to me that some of the problems above have been from dealers that are not that great. Anyway, I just wanted to say that the other machine brands have problems here and there, too, but I have not personally experience these difficulties and I still love my Babylock.

I have owned Babylock machines since 1995 and have loved everyone I have owned. I now have the Ellegante and took it home thinking I could just start using it without classes. Big mistake… I was afraid I had really messed up but after the taking the class on the machine, I realized the mistake was me thinking I could run this machine that had tripple if not more the functions of any machine I have ever owned.

Since taking the class and learning this machine is sensitive to the thread used and when I want to change tread to another manufacturer, I need to call the service department where I bought the machine and find out if I can use it.

I have sewn for 40 years. I have owned many different brands of machines. And by far Babylock is the worst! The head office in Missouri stated that they have NO liablity for the machines they manufacture because they sell the machines to the dealer and the dealer then sells the same machine to the public. SO WE ARE BUYING USED MACHINES AT A NEW PRICE. And with no REAL warranty! I can see a class action suit won with little effort. I was not notified at my time of purchase of any of this. The dealers are either not trained enough to correct the problems or they only wear you down to buying another machine. I will never do business with Babylock or Brother again, and I will make sure to spread the word about their motto of zero customer service and zero liablity. Oh yeah by the way, I had a Babylock repair person break my embroidery unit by adjusting it so wrong it was shaving off plastic as it embroideried finally the pressure broke the plastic around the screw at the end of the unit!!! Babylock told me to take it back to the person who broke it?!

I have had my Ellegante for almost 3 years. It has been in the repair shop an average of 4 times per year. The problems I have had are about the same as others have described. Thread breakage, bobbin jams, working for 3 or 4 hours and back into the shop. Now, it will sew a few stitches and stop. No warnings on the screen…it just stops. It is miserable to try to sew out an embroidery pattern. Now it is stopping even when I am straight stitching. Very frustrating as I am not a novice seamstress. I must give my dealership high marks because they have been very helpful and supportive. A wonderful place for classes and sewing clubs. The repair shop has gotten backlogged lately however and it takes 10 days to 2 weeks to get it back. Too many broken ellegantes!

I have had an Ellegante for over 2 years. I use Madeira thread and also a recommended thread to create my normal size bobbins - because the pre-wrapped do not work well with this machine. If I use pre-wrapped bobbins, I cut the speed on the embroidery to try to prevent the snarls and snags I have been reading about. The people who sold me the machine contacted me about the use of pre-wrapped bobbins and also gave me spools of thread. I guess I must be fortunate. I have it cleaned and maintained and it works worderfully. My only new problem seems to be Windows 7 and the lack of compatibility between softwares.

i bought my ellegante two years ago. started out fine and just this year it has been in the shop more then here at home. the only repair man remotely close to me works only tuesdays and thursdays. he had it six weeks and i brought it home and after about four hours it started to unravel underneath - ruined my project. took it in and he had it four weeks. i brought it home and after about four hours it started to unravel underneath - ruined my project. took it in and he had if five weeks and replaced the whole bobbin case. brought it home and after about four hours same thing - ruined my project. this is saturday and i have to wait till tuesday just to take it in. can’t afford to trade or buy another machine. should have a lemon clause.

I’ve had my Ellegante about 4 yrs. It is touchy to put it mildly. I’ve ruined (or should I say) it has ruined more projects than I can count. The upper thread wraps around the bobbin case and pulls it out. Have had it serviced and fixed by two different dealers, they say when it leave the shop, it is just fine but after sewing about 20 hrs, it’s back to it’s old self. Right now I am having to sew my granddaughters new dress on my little workhorse, Brother 8200 that I bought new years ago. It rarely disappoints me. I am so sorry I bought the Ellegante.

I have been embroidering for a few years with a bernina which I love. I bought the elegante 2 6 months ago because of the larger embroidery field. I have had it in to be serviced 5 times already all for the same problems only to be told the machine is fine. The thread breaks all the time, doesn’t matter if it is rayon or poly. the top thread wraps around the bobbin and pulls the bobbin and feed dogs up. Usually ruining my project in the process. The auto threader is great when it wants to work. I will be trading this one in before the warranty is up. This is suppose to be a fun hobby to relieve stress not cause it!

I purchased my Ellegante2 in 2009 and have had nothing but trouble with it. The thread freys ( I use GOOD thread), I have to constantly rethread it. Now I am having trouble with the bobbin case, it sews well for a time and then all of a sudden the needle and thread gets stuck in the bobbin case and the force pulls the project out of the hoop and as you know you can’t continue the pattern. I can’t tell you how many projects found the trash can. I paid a lot of money for this machine. I think I purchased a LEMON!!!!!!!!

I love to embroider, but can’t seem to find a machine that will work. I have a Babylock Ellegante. It takes about twice as long to sew out a design as it should because it breaks the tread after about every 200 -500 stitches. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars (including 400 to Babylock) trying to keep it running. It’s a joke but I don’t know what to do. These machines are not cheap. Has anybody had any experience with the 6 or 8 needle embroidery only machines? Are they as finicky as these sewing/embroidery machines?

I too, like snowcaps, had my first Ellegante in the shop often in the 2 years that I had bought it - I did get a good price buying it only 4 mos old - now I know why! It even was shipped back to Babylock! They have no “lemon” laws for their sewing machines so I was stuck with it!
Then, I used another dealer closer to home, and traded it in - for at first a Bernina - sent that back and then another Ellegante 2. This one is a dream!!! Does everything it’s supposed to do! I have now almost 7 million stitches on it (after 2 years) and just bring it in for it’s annual check up. For what you get with it compared to others, if you don’t get a “lemon” it’s a wonderful machine!

I love my machine but my auto threader seems to work when it wants to, now it is getting worse about being temperamental. I am having a problem manually threading it too. I just want to embroider!

I’ve used Babylock/Brother embroidery machines for the last 10 years, starting out with the little 4×4 Brother machine, followed by the Ellegeo, and have been using the Ellegante for the last 4 years. I loved my Ellegeo and now I love my Ellegante. I’ve been spoiled by Babylock/Brother — AND by the dealership which services my machines. Both the Ellegeo and the Ellegante are joys to use. I’m sure I’d love the Ellisimo also, and will upgrade one of these days.

Embroidery machines are very complex. Regardless of the brand, it is essential that it be cleaned and serviced by a knowledgable repairman periodically.

I bought mine Ellegante2 in Dec 08. It was used but I got a great deal on ebay. I was new to embroidery and I never took a class. I work on it all the time (embroidery) and have not had one problem yet. Run good thread, keep it clean and make sure that you always thread it right. Using the right stablizer is super important. There is not one negative thing I can say about this beautiful machine.

I previously owned a Janome 9000, turned it in on a Baby Lock Ellegante, got it used, with upgrade on it. Previous owner had only a few stitches on it. I love it. The large embroidery field, the self thread of the needle. I read where others had trouble with their machine. I have no trouble, The embroidery is beautiful It sews like a charm. I have been sewing for 64 years so have a bit of experience. I highly recommend this machine. I do think others try to get by with cheap needles and thread. Get good grade needles and thread see if that makes a difference.

I previously had another BabyLock and upgraded to the Ellegante. I have been so unhappy with this machine for embroidery. It has been in the shop more often than using. It constantly breaks the threads, the bobbin case is always jamming. I can’t seem to get through one darn embroidery design without a problem. Do not buy you will be disappointed.

This is a nice machine when it runs properly; but it’s been in and out of the shop with embroidery registration problems, needle threader not working (no matter what size needle), bobbin case and knife just replaced. I’ve had it approximately 19 months.
I like its embroidery field; but was very disappointed that the Nancy Zieman embroidery included is not editable so if there’s a part you want to leave out, you can’t do that.

I had my Ellegante for 3 yrs now, and love it. It has been such a joy to embroidery on and sew. I did do both upgrades on this one. I love the pivot feature.

To Nancy, I had a problem with the tension and my tech fixed it. It also can be set by the tech with the thread you use. Ask your tech about this, mine told me this.

I’m still not sure. Every time I take a lesson where I bought it all is goreous. I go home and use it and it is a disaster most of the time. The bobbin keeps coming undone and white stitches appear on top. It is VERY
thread sensitive and the top thread constantly breaks and it is high-quality thread. I hope I figure out why my machine is “moodly” at home.

I am sorry to say that I bought a brand new Elegante in 2006. The machine has been in the shop as much as it has been out. The service I receive from the dealer is beyond revolting!!! I have called Babylock twice and I don’t get any satisfaction from them either. Guess what, it is back in shop again, has been there a week already. I hope to at least keep one person from making the mistake of buying a Babylock machine, they do not stand behind their product at all!!! I too, told them I wanted a new machine 2 years ago, they just laughed.

I just love this machine. The large touch screen and the ease of use…WOW! The automatic threader is wonderful! It cuts jump stitches! It remembers where you are in your design when you turn the machine off and back on! And the speed of the processor is fabulous! I really like EVERYTHING about it!

This is my fourth Babylock machine and I also have an Imagine serger. I find it to be the easiest machine of all I’ve used in the past or have looked at. My last one is the Elegante and I love it. Would love to look at the new one coming out but my purse strings are tied and the last one I got is not a year old yet.

This is the most expensive machine I’ve ever bought - 4500 usd. I owned a singer sewing/embroidery combo machine prior and I must say the ellegante has blown it out of the water in terms of features, performance, ease of use, everything really. I sold the singer to help pay for this fabulous machine.

Some of what attracted me to the blg other than the great dealership and their free classes include: very generous colored lcd screen which contains lots of helpful info, automatic threading, automatic trimming of jump stitches, very large embroidery field, and ease of transferring designs through card or usb. It’s the way all the features come together that makes it an outstanding machine in my opinion.