Bernadette Stevens—February 19, 2026✓ Verified purchase
This Brother sewing and quilting machine is fantastic for both beginners and experienced sewists! It runs smoothly, stitches evenly, and offers plenty of built-in stitch options for creative projects. The quilting features are easy to use and make larger projects much more manageable. Reliable, user-friendly, and a great value for the quality! 🧵✨ Read more
BetseyFan—February 12, 2026✓ Verified purchase
This is a wonderful machine for someone starting out on a sewing or quilting adventure. It’s lightweight and easy to use. I’ve been sewing with it for a few months and haven’t had any issues. Would definitely recommend to others. Read more
Jamie R.—March 6, 2024✓ Verified purchase
I watched a few youtube videos before choosing a machine and one of those videos made the claim that you couldn't quilt successfully on a machine that cost less than $500. That was pretty far out of my budget, considering I had never used a sewing machine before and didn't know if it was something I would even want to invest a lot of time into learning. So didn't know much about what to expect out of this one for $160, or if I would end up returning it, but it's a decent machine and it was very easy to learn. I'm 6 months into owning it and have made 3 44x60 lap quilts, a toddler quilt, and 2 quilted toddler sleep sacks along with countless other small projects like organizers, quilted totes, pillowcases, toys and appliques. I've spent who knows how many hours putting this machine to the test and it's still going strong, so clearly you don't need an *expensive* machine to quilt. This little gem comes with nearly everything you need to get you started on your journey. Mechanically, it's pretty basic and mostly self explanatory if you just look at the diagrams below the dials. There are 37 stitches with a few decorative stiches thrown in, you adjust the stitch length all the way to the left to the SS setting to access all the stitches. I skimmed over the manual and somehow missed that bit of information multiple times. If you're looking for a budget quilting machine, this one does well on either thin fabric or thicker quilting projects. It also sews through canvas and upholstery fabrics with no problem. In my experience it does struggle to sew through thick layers of fleece or minky type fabrics, such as in the corners when using the backing material of a quilt to bind it. Thin fleece and fleece batting is no problem though, so I guess there are some materials that probably only a heavy duty machine is going to sew well and multiple thick layers of plush fleece is likely just one of them, so I cant fault the machine for that. I've sewn a quilt "sandwich" consisting of quilt top, single layer of cotton batting, single layer of extra loft poly batting, and backing fabric, all doubled so essentially making it 4 layers of batting plus 2 layers of quilt top and backing, no issues with that. Now for a couple of cons, for one it's not very quiet, which I'm told is a common issue with cheaper machines. The grips on the bottom of the machine are inadequate when working on large heavy projects, and there is a fair amount of vibration as well as movement if you're sewing fast. I quilted a sewing machine pad out of a couple of fat quarters and two layers of thin cotton batting, then once finished I glued the pad to a cheap rubber shower mat for grip. The suction cups on the shower mat hold it in place on my sewing table and the machine doesn't budge, so if you find that to be an issue consider either making or buying a similar mat. It helped tremendously with the above issues, so the base you sit the machine on can make all the difference. The automatic needle threader really comes in handy but I think mine got very slightly bent and now it's finicky to use. So be careful that you don't try to push the needle threader down into place if it gets hung up, which it does from time to time especially with the walking foot. This is probably an issue caused by me and not the machine, so I cant really complain but I wanted to warn others it can happen. I don't love the extension table that comes with it. It comes in handy for lightweight projects and sewing patchwork, but it often comes loose when working on larger things, and then back of the table tilts downward. I haven't figured out a solution to that, other than checking often to make sure it's still in place. I used my mom's brother lightweight to hem some pants (not sure the model) and was pretty underwhelmed by hers in comparison. This model costs only about $40 more more than those basic models Brother makes and it's a much more versatile machine with a lot of accessories, clearly the better value if you're undecided. The walking foot will be your best friend as a new quilter and if you had to buy it separately that one foot alone costs about $20. This machine doesn't come with any small cleaning tools, I recommend picking up a box of pipe cleaners. They work exceptionally well for cleaning the lint from the machine because lint really clings to them, they can be molded into shape and fit in small spaces. I'll eventually upgrade to a different machine because now I'm hooked and there are nonessential features I would like that this one doesn't offer, but for now it's perfect. Read more

Georgina Molnar—June 13, 2025✓ Verified purchase
My Granddaughter reminds me of my Mother she loves Crochet,Embroidery, Drawing, she even went a step farther than my mother.she even got some wool from sheep 🐑 and she did every step to turn it into yarn 🧶 so she could Knit with it. Amazing for a 12 year old. She is turning 13 June 26, and she want to sew. About a year ago she found a sewing machine I had given her Mother’s years ago, now old and she tried to make it sew but it just didn’t. I wanted to offer her my sewing machine but I occasionally use it. So I started looking on Amazon and decided this would be a good one to learn on. Since she is going to be 13 years old that is a special Birthday 🎁 I decided to give it to her. She was so happy now she can make clothes. She has 5 years younger. Easy to thread she said it threaded itself. I was shocked to learn that. I said that was Fantastic 😊 Lightweight I am 81 and I lifted it onto my walker. I am positive for the Functionality. Read more
Karen B.—March 18, 2026✓ Verified purchase
This is the first sewing machine I have ever bought. My old one was a hand me down. I was excited to get it out of the box. After unboxing everything, I realized there was no instructional DVD. I called Brother and was told that they do not include them any longer. They gave me a web sight to look at. Some help. The other issue with the machine that they could not help with was the fact that the foot controller cord is shorter then the electrical part of the cord. I like the fact that the machine is light weight and easy to move around. So far it seems to be durable and the sewing speed is adequate. Overall for the first machine I have bought it is OK. The machine will work well for a casual sewer. Read more
It—March 18, 2026✓ Verified purchase
Fun to use, easy instructions good speed for beginners great price durable. Love this machine Read more
JJ Rae—February 25, 2026✓ Verified purchase
I like the variety of stitches it has, but also that it's easy enough that as a "newbie" to sewing, I can figure it out. Not the fanciest of machines, but much sturdier than the super cheap and small machines I was looking at. Read more
M—December 18, 2025✓ Verified purchase
In my opinion as a beginner quilter, this is a really good machine! I used to have a brother lx3817 which was 90 dollars from Walmart. It did its job and survived 3 quilts and a lot of projects, but I’m thankful to upgrade! This machine runs so much smoother compared to my last machine, and it took me like 10 minutes to figure things out without looking at the manual since the bobbin threading and regular threading are similar. I love the automatic threader! Read more