Because you’re an accomplished creative who wants a perfect finish, every time, we’ve designed the Stellaire Innov-is XJ1 just for you. With the latest in sewing and embroidery technologies you’ll get consistent stitch length, laser straight lines and uniform edge stitching, whenever you sit down to sew. Within the continental United States (the contiguous 48 states), Shipping is FREE to customers on orders over $49.
The one maddening flaw that I found is that its backstitch function is agonizingly slow if you (like myself and almost every other sewist I’ve ever seen) tend to take your foot off the pedal and stop your needle before going into reverse mode. It simply plods if you pause before hitting the reverse-stitch button, but it maintains speed if you live on the edge and push the button while still sewing forward. If you can sigh your way through that—and you’ll need to, since you typically have to backstitch a few stitches at the beginning and the end of every seam to secure it—you should be all set with the Quantum Stylist for years to come. The default depth of the Quantum Stylist’s sewing surface is much larger (8 inches to the CS7000X’s 6 inches), and the free-arm option is smaller (3.5 inches to the CS7000X’s 4 inches), which makes it that much easier to fit fiddly little projects. For this guide, we focused on machines that cost $500 or less and were simple enough for beginners to use but had features and options that more advanced sewists might be able to take advantage of.
Read it all the way through to learn about your machine and what it can do. Most manufacturers, including Brother and Singer, also have videos specific to their machines on their sites, walking newbies through basics like threading the machine. YouTube is an excellent free resource for questions about specific machines and demonstrations of sewing techniques, with channels like Sew Sew Live offering an impressive catalog of patterns sewn through from beginning to end.
It did clunk a little so putting a yoga mat or some foam underneath would solve that problem. I’ll skip over the circuit part for now, that will come later in a well documented tutorial. I know I’m just being a whiny overacting goofball about this, but the auto threading system on this machine is glorious. Yes, I thread needles when I hand sew, but it is always a bit frustrating. I have big clumsy shaky hands and, in case you haven’t noticed, needles are tiny.
I love the ease of changing a project right on the machine and the ability to purchase licensed images from iBroidery.com. For my first project I chose the Bounty Hunter logo (as seen brother scan and cut in The Mandalorian) and it took up most of my 4×4 hoop. I’ll admit that I struggled a little getting the fabric and stabilizer even in the hoop but eventually I got the hang of it.
The ease that someone can do moderately complex operations on this machine without having to have the skill built up is fairly important. This means that Brother is opening up this whole area of making to people who have previously not been able to participate. Good Housekeeping participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. I started with the Brother SE625 as my first machine, and I had no complaints, except I eventually grew out of the 4×4 hoop and paid off enough student loans to afford a bigger hoop machine. It’s basically the Brother PE545 embroidery-wise, but it can also sew.
This machine threads the needle for you with the simple pull of a lever. Obviously, there are many machines I didn’t mention here, especially those that cost more than $3-4k and have larger hoop sizes. In terms of embroidery, there are 80 included designs to embroider using the machine’s 4″x4″ maximum embroidery field area. However, these features might not mean much to you, so consider this 5×7 computerized embroidery-only machine also. The improvement on Brother’s well-loved SE1900, the Brother SE2000 has all the embroidery features of the Brother PE900 but can also sew.
All are designed for versatility and flexibility with every skill level in mind. I think this is one of the best Brother sewing and embroidery machines on the market right now for value and features. We have Brother embroidery machines for beginners and experienced embroiderers. Call our expert customer service staff if you need help deciding on which Brother embroidery machine is right for you. Featuring the flagship Luminaire 3 Innov-ís XP3 and a host of new sewing and embroidery machines and accessories, the New for 2023 lineup will exceed expectations. The Brother HC1850 performed well in testing and came with a suite of accessories including an extension table, but it paled in comparison with our top pick, the Brother CS7000X.
Orders being shipped to Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, APO’s, FPO’s and DPO’s are not eligible for free shipping. Also, the free shipping policy does not apply to large or heavy items that require special shipping methods such as assembled industrial sewing machines and some sewing cabinets. If you’re willing to pay to learn more, Seamwork is a membership-based resource for garment sewists, with a huge library of patterns, discount codes for online fabric shops, informative blog posts and videos, a member forum, and more.