The Best Sewing Machine

Sewing is a wonderfully creative and practical hobby that allows you to make anything from quilts to pants with relative ease. However, choosing the right sewing machine can be overwhelming due to the many options available. After consulting experts and spending over 40 hours testing 12 machines on various projects, we found that the Brother CS7000X is the best choice for most beginners. It offers great value, helpful features, and versatile functions and accessories.

The Brother CS7000X is an affordable, computerized sewing machine that’s easy for beginners to use while also being versatile enough for more advanced projects. Although it may not last for generations, it offers impressive features for its price, including various presser feet, a wide table extension, and a walking foot. With a wide selection of programmed stitches and a thorough manual, it helps beginners achieve professional-looking results.

The Singer Quantum Stylist 9960 is sturdier and more stylish than the Brother CS7000X, offering a flexible sewing surface and a fun user experience. Packed with features, stitches, and accessories, it includes high-end extras like an automatic thread cutter. While it feels like a premium machine, its usability and affordability make it suitable for beginners.

The real advantage of the Brother CS7000X lies in its impressive array of included accessories. It comes with a variety of presser feet, such as a buttonhole foot, overcasting foot, monogramming foot, zipper foot, blind-stitch foot, button-sewing foot, quarter-inch piecing foot, quilting foot, and a walking foot—an uncommon feature for beginner machines that helps prevent fabric from shifting. Additionally, the included extension table expands the sewing area from 10 inches to 17 inches, providing extra space for larger projects like quilts. This table securely attaches to the machine, ensuring stability during use, unlike many competitors whose extension tables are freestanding.

Using the Brother CS7000X is straightforward and intuitive, with stitch patterns printed directly on the machine and an LCD screen indicating the appropriate presser foot. It performs smoothly, even with thick fabrics, earning high praise during testing. While it’s mostly plug-and-play, reviewing the manual is helpful to understand a few quirks, like the default left needle position and its automatic down-position feature for the needle when stopping. The quick-set bobbin and automatic needle threader simplify setup, making it easy to start sewing without fussing with thread tails. Accessibility features include adjustable sewing speed, an option to silence startup sounds, and a start/stop button for operation without a foot pedal, reducing fatigue. Overall, it’s a user-friendly machine with great longevity, making it an excellent choice for both beginners and more experienced sewists.

The Brother CS7000X, while offering great value, has a few drawbacks. Its default needle position is left rather than center, which can be inconvenient, and adjusting the presser foot pressure is not an option—something that may frustrate more experienced sewists. Although it boasts a variety of automatic buttonholes, some appeared scraggly by default, requiring adjustments to stitch length for improvement. Additionally, while the machine features a metal interior frame, it’s encased in plastic, leading to a less durable appearance; for instance, my machine arrived with a nearly broken tab on the accessory storage compartment, raising concerns about long-term durability.

If you have a higher budget, the Singer Quantum Stylist 9960 is a great choice for a versatile, user-friendly sewing machine designed for longevity. This sleek, computerized machine is packed with features that enhance the sewing experience. In the online sewing community, the term “sewjo” (sewing mojo) often comes up, referring to the inspiration to create. While a good machine can’t make you a skilled sewist, a poor one can hinder your progress and enjoyment, making it harder to build confidence and improve.

The Quantum Stylist is a joy to use, offering smooth, powerful sewing, a wealth of features, and intuitive controls. It’s quieter than the Brother CS7000X and includes an automatic thread-cutter button, a feature our top pick lacks. Its sleek, modern design is inviting, and it comes with a hard storage case with a compartment for the comprehensive manual. I enjoyed quilting a throw-sized quilt with it.

Like the CS7000X, the Quantum Stylist includes many extras, such as 13 presser feet (including a walking foot) and an extension table. It offers 600 stitches, five alphabets, and 13 automatic buttonhole styles for customizable projects.

The automatic thread-cutter button is a standout feature, saving time and hassle by tying off and cutting threads with a single push, eliminating the need for scissors. Only one other machine in our test group, the EverSewn Sparrow 30s, offers this convenience.

The Singer Quantum Stylist offers a more luxurious feel compared to the Brother CS7000X, with a sleek design and thoughtful construction. Unlike the CS7000X, which requires removing the entire accessory compartment to access its contents, the Quantum Stylist features a front door for easy access and a dedicated groove for the buttonhole foot.

The sewing surface depth is larger (8 inches compared to 6 inches on the CS7000X), while the free-arm option is slightly smaller (3.5 inches versus 4 inches), making it easier for detailed projects. Its extension table expands the working area to 10 inches in depth and an additional 6 inches off to the side, surpassing the Brother model’s capacity.

Additionally, the Quantum Stylist has helpful failsafe features, such as preventing sewing with the presser foot up, which can help avoid careless mistakes. It also eliminates the need to hold onto thread tails while starting, a common issue with mechanical machines. While it lacks presser-foot pressure adjustment, this is rarely needed by most sewists.

The Quantum Stylist, like the CS7000X, includes various accessibility features such as a speed-control sliding switch, an option to disable beeping sounds, adjustable contrast for the LCD screen, and a start/stop sewing button, enabling use without a foot pedal.

This machine is powerful and enjoyable to use, but its backstitch function is frustratingly slow if you stop before engaging reverse mode. It works well if you push the button while sewing forward, but if you can overlook this flaw, the Quantum Stylist will serve you well for years.

The Quantum Stylist 9960 is nearly identical to the Singer 8060, with differences in included accessories. The 9960 comes with a straight-stitch foot and seam guide, while the 8060 includes a quarter-inch foot and spool pin felt pads. Choose based on the accessories you value or go for the cheaper model.