Help choosing semi-professional sewing machine for garment construction and heavy duty or stretch fabrics?
I’m looking to buy a sewing machine good enough for a professional seamstress. I am an advanced beginner with some experience on an industrial machine and am going to school for fashion. I would like a heavy duty semi professional home machine that is very reliable, and good enough to construct all types of garments that I will be selling. I make a lot of things with vinyl, leather, faux fur, and stretch fabrics so it needs to be able to sew through thick layers, and most types of fabric with ease and speed. An adjustable presser foot position is necessary for this I assume? It needs to have a buttonhole feature also. This needs to be machine that will last for years after I am an advanced sewer. I’ve read that Brother, Singer, Viking, Janome, and Juki are the best. Could someone please tell me a few SPECIFIC MODELS that are worth checking out? Don’t really have budget or space for a true industrial. Thank you for your help, the more thorough the better!
Happy sewing 
Before you start shopping in earnest, you might want to read some of the information here:
http://www.fashion-incubator.com/category/machines-equipment/ particularly some of the comments here: http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/needle-feed-sewing-machines/
One of the big differences between home machines and industrials is that industrials generally have much higher presser foot pressure and much lower thread tension, resulting in better seaming. And the industrials have glorious numbers of cheap feet that make a lot of things easier to sew (think compensating feet, folders. etc. — very hard to find on a home machine.)
In your shoes, I’d probably be looking at the commercial machines with buttonhole capabilities, or a zigzag capable commercial and a used home machine with a decent selection of buttonholes that can be tweaked. One of the few commercial portables machines I know of with a buttonhole is the Janome 6300P. I’ve only tried it, but it seemed very solid. There’s also a portable version of the Bernina 950, but it’s a lot more money.
I’d also be considering a good serger.
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