Greetings from Boone, NC

Hello Group, My name is Steve and with my wife we sell upholstery fabric and leather on the internet.

The types of fabric we buy from major furniture manufacturer's located here in NC are Scalamandre, Brunswhig & Fils, Fortuny, Cowtan & Tout and other high end fabric. Most of these are short ends but with a true wholesale valve of (in some cases) over $200-$300 per yard, you become motivated to find ways to sell what you find.

That brings me to why I am here, I am interested in expanding my business into making high end custom pillows and I believe that an embroidery machine could be a nice enhancement to my business plans.

My background is custom upholstery.......so making pillows presents no problems but I do not know anything about an embroidery machine.

I know that I intend to embroider non-wovens (like upholstery leather and Ultrasuede) and other standard weight upholstery fabrics.

I am going to look at a 15 needle machine tomorrow that has "all the whips & whistles" ......and a price tag of $12,500.

I am Scot-Irish and by nature I am very "frugal"..........so, I am looking at a used Happy 12 needle Model: HCA 1201 40TTC also.

Can someone quote a fair market price for such a unit?

My other questions to the community are as follows: Can this unit still be serviced? Are parts still available? Is there a service person/company in western NC, High Point, Hickory or Charlotte are that someone in the group can recommend?

Thank you in advance for you time invested in my introduction and questions

Steve Terry, GM
http://www.silverstonefabrics.com
http://www.theupholsterysolution.com