The 4 Best Sewing Machines of 2025 | Reviews by Wirecutter

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After further testing, the computerized Brother CS7000X and Singer Quantum Stylist 9960 remain our favorites, but we’ve added the Husqvarna Viking Onyx 25 and Pfaff Select 4.2 as new mechanical picks. antique clock parts

Sewing is one of those magical hobbies that are both endlessly creative and especially practical. With relatively little effort—and a good sewing machine—you can make a quilt, whip up some curtains, hem pants, or even make pants out of things that weren’t pants at all before.

But there are as many sewing machines to choose from as there are things you can do with them, so finding the perfect starter setup can be more stressful than it ought to be.

After interviewing a diverse panel of experts and spending more than 80 hours sewing with 27 machines on a variety of projects, we’re sure that the Brother CS7000X is the best option for most beginner sewists, thanks to its accessible price, wealth of helpful features, and versatile included functions and accessories.

This compact, computerized sewing machine offers more features and accessories than others in its price range.

This quiet, versatile machine does it all, and it comes with almost all of the accessories you’re ever likely to need. It’s about twice the price of our top pick, but it’s still a relative bargain for a dedicated sewist.

This mechanical machine is a no-frills workhorse that nonetheless sets sewists up for success, with easy-to-access guides and infinitely adjustable settings. It’s not ideal for working with stretchy knit fabrics, though.

This manual machine is smooth and powerful, and devotees swear by its longevity. But it comes with fewer accessories in the package than the Brother or Singer machines, and specialty add-ons can be costly.

This compact, computerized sewing machine offers more features and accessories than others in its price range.

The Brother CS7000X is a surprisingly affordable, computerized sewing machine that’s intuitive enough to allow beginners to gain confidence and skill yet versatile enough to handle more-advanced projects as the sewist’s skills grow. This isn’t an heirloom machine that you’re likely to pass down to future generations—you can expect it to have a lifespan of years rather than decades. But for the price, it’s an impressively sophisticated machine.

The CS7000X comes with a wealth of presser feet, which will help even beginner sewists produce professional-looking work. And it includes a wide table extension and a walking foot, which are rarities on a machine in this price range. This machine has a huge variety of programmed stitches, both utilitarian and whimsical, and the included manual is thorough and helpful.

Compared with the Brother CS7000X, the Singer Quantum Stylist 9960 is more solidly built, more stylish, and more flexible in the size of its sewing surface. It’s also, simply put, really fun to use.

It has a ton of features, stitches, and accessories, and it includes some extras—such as an automatic thread cutter—usually found only on much higher-end machines. (If you think that sounds goofy, try using it once and see how you yearn for it on every machine afterward.)

In looks and function, the Quantum Stylist feels like a premium machine, but due to its ease of use and relative affordability, it’s also a viable choice for someone who’s just beginning to sew.

The Husqvarna Viking Onyx 25 is a chic, basic machine that’ll look great in any space, and it’s just as serviceable as it is neutrally colored (which is to say, extremely so).

It’s powerful, smooth, and quiet. And it has a nifty pull-out stitch reference guide, suggesting starting points for width, length, tension, and more for each stitch. That’ll save less-experienced sewists some heartache and Googling.

The Onyx performed wonderfully on most fabrics, but it does not include a walking foot or the Pfaff Select 4.2’s luxurious IDT built-in system. So this is not a great pick for those who think they will primarily be using stretchy knit fabrics.

The Pfaff Select 4.2 is a gorgeously designed manual sewing machine with thoughtful details, like a storage compartment with labeled slots for presser feet and a liftable tray that can provide more storage space for bobbins and other accessories. The machine is heavy and sturdy, and it sews smoothly and powerfully.

It also has a built-in walking foot that’s easy to engage and disengage in less than a second. And its unique, free-arm design swivels and then lifts away elegantly—a refreshing contrast to the snap on/snap off design found on other machines we tested. Another cool feature: There are several ways to wind the bobbin, including one that doesn’t even require you to unthread the needle.

The downside, however, is the cost. The Pfaff machine is more expensive than our other picks, but the premium price is a trade-off for a premium experience. Among all of the machines we’ve tested, this one was the most like using an industrial sewing machine. Pfaff’s presser feet, bobbins, and plug are also proprietary, so any specialty accessories you add get costly, too.

Although previous versions of this guide called out more-affordable computerized machines as “sacrificing quality for features,” technology has advanced in the intervening years.

This change means feature-rich yet beginner-friendly machines are available at lower prices, hitting the sweet spot of utility and budget. These days, it’s a lot easier to find a reliable machine that you won’t immediately grow out of as you level up. And many common features on computerized machines can help save beginner sewists from common errors, including starting to sew with the presser foot up, a guaranteed formula to jam the machine.

Samantha Waude, a sewist who has worked as an accessibility consultant for multiple machine manufacturers, agreed with that benefit. “What I often find with beginners is that they get frustrated that they’re struggling to make the sewing look good,” she said. “Quite often that’s because they’re fighting with the machine, but I sometimes feel that computerized just makes it that little bit easier.”

With that said, mechanical machines are easier to repair than their computerized counterparts, so a well-made mechanical machine could last for decades. If you adhere to the buy-it-for-life approach, one of our mechanical picks might be a better choice than the computerized alternatives, even if the computerized versions are more feature-rich.

I’m an advanced home sewist who took a six-week beginner course in early 2020 and got hooked. I’ve made clothes, quilts, bags, home-decor items—even a pair of jeans. (And, yes, my butt looks great in them.) Fun fact: My first sewing machine, a holiday gift in 2019, was a previous pick from this guide. I’ve also written Wirecutter guides on fiber craft kits for adults, essential origami supplies, and the coziest Kindle reading setup.

If you’re seeking a reliable, versatile sewing machine that can bang out various projects (from quilting to garment-making) and also handle heavier fabrics (like denim or the kind used in home decor), this guide is for you—especially if you don’t think you’ll want or need to upgrade your machine in the next few years.

The benefits of knowing your way around a sewing machine are manifold. It’s undeniably useful—not to mention particularly satisfying—to be able to hem, repair, or even entirely design and create your own fabric goods, as I did with the ball cap for my skeleton’s 44-inch-circumference dome.

Sewing can also be a great way to make new friends, since there’s an active and generally friendly online sewing community to connect with. And the health benefits of having a hobby—regardless of what that hobby is—have been documented time and time again.

If you’ve never touched a sewing machine before, we recommend trying one out at a dealer and purchasing one in person. Although sewing machines are relatively simple to operate, the mechanics of even basic manual machines can be a little intimidating to the novice. A good dealer can show you the ropes—stuff like winding the bobbin, replacing the needle, threading the machine, and adjusting stitches. And this will probably save you hours of frustration from trying to learn on your own. Plus, dealers often throw in complimentary sewing classes or other perks, such as servicing, if you purchase through them.

If you buy a machine online, you might want to look for a local sewing studio for a beginner class or a one-on-one lesson, to help you learn the ropes of your new machine and general sewing terminology.

Commenters on a previous version of this guide pointed out that certain vintage models, if given a tune-up, would serve any sewist well. That’s very true!

However, not everyone is lucky enough to get one of those hand-me-downs or stumble upon one at a vintage shop. This guide focuses on options that can be purchased new. Keep an eye out for forthcoming advice on what to look for when buying a used sewing machine.

You can spend anywhere from about $100 to over $15,000 on a sewing machine, but more expensive doesn’t always equal better. For this guide, we focused on versatile, beginner-friendly machines that cost $500 or less.

To strike that crucial balance, these are the features we looked for:

I put our candidates through dozens of hours of sewing clothes, quilts, slippery fabric, heavyweight fabric, stretchy knits, fuzzy wool, and more, using projects from my queue for real-life testing after an initial run on scrap fabrics.

I started testing each machine with a straight stitch on plain quilting cotton. Then, to see how they would handle different situations, I moved on to a stable fabric, like linen; a fussier fabric, like silk; stretchy knit fabric; a heavy fabric, like denim or waxed canvas; and an assembled quilt stack. I also sewed buttonholes according to each machine’s instructions.

I didn’t use formal metrics to measure stitch quality; instead I went by feel and visual cues: How easy was it to feed fabric through? How did the stitches look? Did the machine jam? Did I curse out loud?

I mended a sweater and finished a tweed trench coat with silk lining that had been lingering unfinished for nearly two years. I even whipped up a Mets hat for my 12-foot lawn skeleton to wear—reversible, in case a rally cap situation arose. I read every included manual, and I frowned at tangled birds’ nests in bobbin casings. On one memorable occasion, I had to take apart most of the body of one machine after an errant thread and then a fumbled screw fell into its murky depths.

As I evaluated each model, I also considered ongoing availability, price, owner reviews, features, and included accessories. The last two points are especially important since this guide is for the beginner to advanced beginner sewist, who might not specialize in one type of project yet. In other words, versatility is key.

This compact, computerized sewing machine offers more features and accessories than others in its price range.

The Brother CS7000X seems almost too good to be true, thanks to the combination of a reasonable asking price, a wide variety of computerized stitches, reliably excellent performance, an impressive range of accessories, and a surprisingly compact footprint (just 16 by 8 inches, in its included hard cover). All of these things make the CS7000X an easy recommendation for anyone looking to pick up their first sewing machine.

It’s an incredible value. The CS7000X costs less than many of the other sewing machines we tested, but it comes with more features and delivers better all-around performance. It offers more preprogrammed stitches (70) than you can find in any of the mechanical machines we tried, and it includes more presser feet (10) than most of the other machines we tested.

It’s equipped with eight different automatic buttonholes, and the included manual is a great resource for making the most of these options, letting you know when you might choose to use a keyhole buttonhole versus, say, a stretch buttonhole. Less-necessary stitches include such options as little daisy-chained rows of hearts; this is not as practical as, say, a lightning stretch stitch, but it’s fun to play with and cute for decorative use or quilting.

It includes a wide variety of presser feet. Reading through a pattern and realizing that you don’t have the required presser foot to complete a step is especially frustrating, but this is not a problem you’re likely to have with this machine.

It comes with the standard zigzag foot attached right out of the box, but it also includes a buttonhole foot, an overcasting foot, a monogramming foot, a zipper foot, a blind-stitch foot, a button-sewing foot, a quarter-inch piecing foot, and a quilting foot. And, most impressively, it includes a walking foot, which is helpful when you’re working with fabrics that may stretch or shift while moving through the machine. Walking feet are rarely included with beginner-level machines, but the CS7000X provides one.

You also get an extension table. The included extension table widens the sewing area from 10 inches to 17 inches. None of the machines under $200 in our test group offered this accessory in the box. And even the Bernette 37, the most expensive machine in our test group, didn’t come with one.

As another nice touch, the table snaps into grooves on the machine itself, so it remains stationary and steady. On some other machines we tried in this test round, the extension tables were entirely freestanding—they nestled up to the machine but didn’t attach, so they would sometimes move under the things I was trying to sew.

Using it is straightforward. The machine is easy and, for the most part, intuitive to use. The stitch patterns are printed directly on the machine, saving you the trouble of digging through the manual to find a chart, and the LCD screen tells you which foot you should use for the stitch pattern you have selected.

The stitches are even, and the machine is quiet. And in my testing, it handled all of the varieties of fabric with aplomb—including multiple layers of heavy canvas, with foam interfacing, during the construction of a particularly sturdy tote bag. As my notes read, “Like butter.”

The manual is a wealth of information. You shouldn’t skip reading it because it fills you in on many of the clever shortcuts the machine has to offer. For example, if you stop sewing in the middle of a seam, the needle stops in the down position by default; this is helpful for turning corners on projects or pausing to make adjustments without accidentally moving your fabric.

And with the CS700X, if you’re forever forgetting to backstitch at the beginning and end of your seams, you can turn on a feature to automatically do it for you.

Winding, loading, and threading are easy. Because the machine features a quick-set bobbin, sewists don’t need to grab onto the thread tails when they start sewing, and they don’t even need to draw the bobbin thread up to begin sewing in the first place. This sew-and-go ability is an extremely convenient feature of computerized machines—including the CS7000X—that’s nonexistent in mechanical machines.

It has nice accessibility features. For example, there’s a sliding switch for adjusting the sewing speed—a feature that’s not typically available on manual machines.

Other extras include the option to turn off the beeping sounds on startup, which is great for people who have sensory-processing issues related to sound. And there’s a start/stop button, which allows you to operate the machine without a foot pedal (another option not available on mechanical machines).

If you have a higher budget and want a versatile computerized sewing machine that’s easy to use yet designed to last for years, we like the Singer Quantum Stylist 9960. It’s a sleek little computerized machine packed with extras and upgrades, but what really makes it stand out is how much of a joy it is to use.

That’s thanks to its smooth, powerful sewing, its wealth of features, and its intuitive controls. This machine is a little quieter than the Brother CS7000X, and it has a few features that our top pick lacks, such as an automatic thread-cutter button. Also, although appearance isn’t everything, this machine looks sleek, modern, and inviting on a table.

It’s packed with accessories. Like the CS7000X, the Quantum Stylist comes with lots of extras in the box, including 13 presser feet (one of them the coveted walking foot) and an extension table. It offers 600 stitches, including five separate alphabets (should you ever need to stitch a ransom note into a quilt) and 13 automatic buttonhole styles—all of which allow the maker to customize their projects even further.

This machine also comes with a hard storage case, so you can tuck it away if you don’t have the table space to keep your machine out all the time. And the case even has a clever little storage compartment for the machine’s very thorough manual.

The little extras set this machine apart. Take the automatic thread-cutter button. In our testing, it proved to be a game-changer in terms of time and convenience. No more blindly groping around under your fabric to try to find the bobbin thread to cut it. No more littering your workspace with lengths of wasted thread from pulling your project away from the machine, cutting the threads, and then trimming them off.

With this feature, you just push the button, and the machine automatically ties off and slices the thread, easy as that.

This machine looks nicer than our top pick, and it has smarter design choices. Though its casing is still plastic over a metal skeleton, as on the Brother CS7000X model, the Singer Quantum Stylist has a sleek and modern shape. And its construction feels more thoughtful than that of the CS7000X and other machines we tested.

For example, with the CS7000X, you have to entirely remove the accessory compartment to access its contents, and you must keep the small feet and bobbins inside a bag in the compartment, lest they fall out. With the Singer Quantum Stylist, you can simply open a door on the front of the accessory compartment to access your tools, and there’s a dedicated groove to fit the buttonhole foot into—a nice detail.

It’s a little easier to work with. The default depth of the Quantum Stylist’s sewing surface is much larger (8 inches, versus the CS7000X’s 6 inches), and the free-arm option is smaller (3.5 inches, compared with the CS7000X’s 4 inches), so it’s that much easier to fit fiddly little projects.

The included extension table allows this Singer machine to morph to an impressive 10 total inches of depth and an additional 6 inches of space off the side—again, a larger area than on the Brother model and on the other machines we tested that came with tables.

Beginners and experienced sewists will both appreciate this machine’s failsafes. For example, the Quantum Stylist won’t allow you to start sewing with the presser foot up (a careless mistake that’s easy for anyone to make, no matter how long you’ve been sewing).

With the Quantum Stylist, as with most computerized machines, there’s no need to hold onto the thread tails when you start sewing, unlike with mechanical machines, where the threads can tangle or the machine can come unthreaded if you don’t hold tight at the start of sewing.

It has accessibility features, too. Like the CS7000X, the Quantum Stylist has a speed-control sliding switch and the ability to turn off beeping sounds. It also has a start/stop sewing button, which allows sewists to use the machine without a foot pedal, and an adjustable contrast for the LCD screen.

Its backstitch function is agonizingly slow. This is especially true if you (like me 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.

Due to its thoughtful details and smooth sewing on a variety of projects, the Husqvarna Viking Onyx 25 is our pick for a beginner-friendly—yet not oversimplified—mechanical machine. It puts an educational stitch guide literally at the sewist’s fingertips, and it revs up with plenty of power. And it was impressively smooth while handling a variety of fabrics.

Information takes center stage. One reason we recommend computerized machines for beginners is that they take a lot of the guesswork out of sewing. They automatically adjust width and length for each stitch, giving you a baseline to start from for your own adjustments.

While it’s a mechanical machine, the Onyx 25 provides recommendations of its own, and it puts them on two pull-out guides that are attached to the machine. These show a preview of what certain stitches look like, and they suggest the correct presser foot, stitch length and width, and tension to use for each one. There are even different recommendations for woven fabrics and stretch or vinyl textiles.

The Onyx 25 also has an 8-inch ruler (complete with metric measurements) printed at its base—a thoughtful addition that’s helpful for quick measurement checks. Finally, the machine comes with a hefty physical instruction manual and a list of what’s in the box (this is always good to refer to when you are unboxing and exploring a new machine).

It’s cute, too. This minimalist, aesthetically pleasing little machine is mostly white, with a few touches of charcoal. It’ll look great in most workspaces.

It packs a punch. This machine ran so smoothly and quietly that I did a double-take, wondering if I’d sat down at a computerized machine instead. With this machine I hemmed gauzy curtains, a waxed canvas purse, and a linen shirt—all of which it handled with aplomb.

It’s flexible. In the box you’ll find eight presser feet, and the Onyx 25 is capable of 32 stitches, with the ability to adjust the length, width, and tension. (For comparison, the Brother CS7000x comes with 10 presser feet, including a walking foot, and it has 70 built-in stitches to customize.) The presser foot’s pressure is also tweakable. It even has an automatically sized buttonhole feature—one of the nicer ones I’ve executed on a mechanical machine.

It doesn’t include a walking foot. The one fabric that didn’t shine on this machine was stretchy knit; the provided presser feet yielded the expected ripply results common with this type of fabric. We wish a walking foot were included with the machine, for a more-professional finish, but it can be purchased later, along with an extension table.

Compared with sewing on all of the machines we’ve tested, sewing on the Pfaff Select 4.2 mechanical machine feels the most like using an industrial sewing machine—the gold-standard workhorse that many professional sewists and designers swear by.

Many mechanical sewing machines available at big-box stores feel clunky or lacking. Not this one. It operates smoothly and quietly, with an easy-to-use stitch selection, a solid build, a powerful motor, and a very cool feature that serves as an integrated walking foot and makes sewing with different fabrics a snap.

It’ll last forever. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration. But user reviews reveal this model has many happy owners who’ve had their machines for several years. Pfaff offers a fairly standard warranty—20 years on the frame, five years on the electrical components, and a year on defective parts—but the quality of construction is apparent.

And repairs on mechanical machines are simpler than repairs on their computerized counterparts, even if something breaks out of warranty, repairs will likely be more cost-effective than they would be with a computerized machine.

It doesn’t come with a walking foot, but we didn’t miss it at all. Like the Husqvarna Viking Onyx 25, the Pfaff Select 4.2 doesn’t come with a walking foot. But in this case, that’s because it has something better.

The company’s proprietary IDT feature is essentially an integrated walking foot that can be engaged or disengaged easily, no screwdriver required, unlike a typical walking foot. And, unlike a normal walking foot, this feature can be used with the zipper foot, an overlock foot, and more.

In practice, this feature helps feed your fabric smoothly through the machine without shifting, whether it’s slippery silk or a thick stack of heavy fabric that could easily become misaligned while moving through the machine (to disastrous result). The easy-to-engage IDT feature eliminates this problem.

The thoughtful design details help this machine stand out. The Pfaff’s foot pedal is bulkier than those of other machines we tested, and it has a slider to help control sewing speed (something other mechanical machines don’t have). The larger pedal is also surprisingly wide, and this makes it feel especially luxurious compared with those of the competition.

The machine’s free arm can swing out of the way or be lifted off completely, if desired. And its storage compartment has labeled slots for the included presser feet, with a more free-form storage space underneath for bobbins and doodads.

Another cool feature on this machine: There are three ways to wind a bobbin, including one where you don’t have to unthread your needle to do so. This is a smart time-saver. And it’s worth mentioning that the bobbin wound so smoothly, when it was full and the machine automatically stopped winding, I actually said, “ooooh, pretty,” out loud. (Your standards of beauty may vary.)

It’s powerful and versatile. Thanks to this machine’s push-button stitch selection and thorough manual, it’s easy to tell what you’re doing. And its powerful motor handled a variety of fabrics, but it didn’t feel like I was going to snap a needle or like the machine would vibrate right off the table. Though it doesn’t come with an extension table, the sewing surface felt big enough; however, you may want to get one for larger projects, like making quilts.

It uses proprietary accessories. The biggest drawback to this machine is its specialized accessories. It comes with eight presser feet, but additional feet with IDT capability currently run about $40 each, compared with about $18 for a Brother branded foot or much cheaper for a generic foot that would fit a Brother, Janome, or Singer machine.

It also uses proprietary bobbins, which can be annoying if you sew on more than one machine, or if you want to have a lot of thread colors on hand. Using a bobbin not intended for the machine will definitely make a mess, and it could result in a trip to the repair shop.

Its bobbin design may be frustrating for newbies. The Select 4.2 uses a front-loading bobbin, which can be a little fiddly to load and is more common to industrial machines than to typical consumer machines.

At first, I didn’t understand how to click the bobbin into the case properly. But after some trial and error, I got it through jam-free and easily loaded it the next time.

If you want a machine that offers reliable, computerized performance with fewer frills and a sturdier build than you get with our top pick: The Janome Sewist 740 DC is easy to use and capable of 40 programmed stitches. The 20 most common of those can be chosen with direct-selection buttons, thereby cutting down on the futzing around that some digital displays require.

The machine comes with an extension table and a hard cover, plus five basic presser feet. It’s more than double the price of our top pick, and it doesn’t have all of the same bells and whistles (no alphabets here), but its build quality feels sturdier. Accessories are easy to find, as are repair techs, due to Janome’s ubiquity.

Owners of this machine love it, and I was able to sew buttonholes in four layers of denim without drama, as well as a gorgeous straight stitch on silk with no jams. This is a machine that would serve a beginner well as their skills grow.

If you plan on sewing mostly heavy projects: The Elna 3210 for Jeans is a rock-solid, hefty mechanical machine that could probably beat me in an arm-wrestling match.

It comes with a very thorough, easy-to-understand manual, which is legitimately educational in its descriptions of how to customize certain stitches and why you might want to do that. For example, the machine has only one buttonhole option, but the manual describes how you would tweak the stitch settings if you are sewing on a knit, a finer fabric, or a heavy denim.

As the name implies, this machine is tooled for heavy fabrics, and it handles them like a dream. But don’t be fooled by the name, either: I was surprised by how well it handled knits, even without an included walking foot. The machine is well designed, with an interesting little pull-out storage drawer embedded in its free arm, as well as specially shaped slots in the lid, for its presser feet.

This is not a comprehensive list of all sewing machines we’ve tested. We have removed any models that are discontinued or no longer meet our criteria.

The Janome MOD-19 was our top pick in a previous version of this guide. It’s a solid machine for basic tasks, but its functions and included accessory pack limit the sewist’s ability to execute things like buttonholes, quilting projects, and more. It also tends to cost about the same as our current top pick, but it offers far fewer features and accessories. On the whole, I found this machine to be fine for occasional, simple sewing tasks (it’s the one I learned to sew on), but it doesn’t stack up to the machines we now recommend.

The Singer Heavy Duty 4423 is a former runner-up pick, but even though it has a powerful motor and impressive speed—easily punching through layers of foam interfacing and tough waxed canvas—it lacks the fine control that you can get from our current picks. What this machine does, it does well, but those functions are extremely limited. Note too that this machine is the subject of controversy in sewing forums like Reddit’s r/sewing, where some people accuse Singer of simply slapping its recognizable name on a subpar machine.

The Swiss-designed Bernette 05 Academy, produced by premium manufacturer Bernina, is an intriguing manual machine with a robust accessory pack, including an extension table. But in our testing, the bobbin jammed repeatedly. The machine didn’t come with a full manual in the box (though it is available online), which made using functions like the buttonhole absolutely inscrutable. Although this model came with lots of goodies (and looked sharp on the sewing table to boot), these drawbacks made its high price hard to justify for the beginner sewist.

The Bernette 37 has a high price and comes with minimal accessories. However, it produces a beautiful straight stitch, and it has a powerful, fast motor, making it undeniably fun to use. Even without a walking foot, it zipped through an assembled quilt sandwich with ease, and I quilted a good portion of a throw-sized blanket with it. That’s where the fun ended, though: It didn’t handle knits well at all, instead producing wavy seams, and in one case it jammed so badly that I had to cut my project out of the machine to free it, before I could even unscrew the needle plate to untangle the threads. The must-have walking foot is a $65 add-on, or it’s available as part of a quilting feet set for $120. Additional feet are also available in a set, for another $135. Companies like Madam Sew offer affordable sets of specialty presser feet that fit machines like this Bernette, but you void your machine’s warranty if you damage it while using them. And to get the best results (and minimize mishaps like broken needles), it’s always recommended that you use feet made specifically for your machine’s model.

The Brother HC1850 performed well in testing, and it came with a suite of accessories, including an extension table. But it paled in comparison with our top pick, the Brother CS7000X, in some basic functions, such as working with heavier fabrics or quilting.

The Janome Arctic Crystal and the Singer 3337—which their respective manufacturers advertise as great entry-level options—are too simple for the purposes of this guide; to us, they felt like toys that sewists would quickly grow out of. Among other oversimplifications, the stitch width on both machines isn’t adjustable; as a result, they limit the sewist to just one size of zigzag stitch. The 3337 doesn’t even have a manual thread cutter (a small razor embedded into the side of the machine), and this seems like the ultimate corner-cutting move.

The Janome C30 is another basic machine that failed to stand up to the competition. It’s a computerized machine with 30 stitches, including one buttonhole. That’s one feature that feels like a missed opportunity: The sewist still has to make the buttonhole to the length of their choice, instead of using the button itself to let the machine size it. If you are going for a computerized machine over a mechanical model, it should have some of the basic conveniences, including an automatic buttonhole.

The Janome HD1000 is a powerful machine that handles heavy fabrics and multilayered projects with ease, and it breezes through lighter materials just fine, too. It features a sturdy all-metal base, and it has nice features, such as the ability to lift the presser foot extra-high for bulky seams. However, the front-loading bobbin can be finicky, and the buttonhole capabilities are lacking to the point that this model doesn’t come with a buttonhole foot as a standard. This is a great pick for projects involving miles of straight stitching or heavy fabric, but the drawbacks prevented it from being a main pick.

The EverSewn Sparrow 30s is a computerized machine that comes with a wealth of accessories and features, including a walking foot, an extension table, a built-in thread cutting button, and nine presser feet. Its aqua-blue-and-copper styling is divisive: You may find it childish or delightful. The Sparrow had a few stumbles on basic functions like bobbin winding, sometimes unevenly filling the spool for no discernible reason. Its availability can be spotty, but if you like how it looks and can find it in stock, it might be a good fit for the adventurous beginner.

The Singer Heavy Duty HD500 is an affordable mechanical machine with cute retro styling, its rounded body made of matte black plastic with gold accents. It looks nice on a table and performs fine but not great. It feels insubstantial, and the one-page, illustration-only instructions are more of a guessing game than a helpful resource.

The Singer C7290Q is a computerized machine boasting many of the same features as our computerized upgrade pick, the Quantum Stylist 9960. It has an automatic thread cutter, a walking foot, and an extension table. It even backstitches at a normal speed, erasing one of my criticisms of the Quantum Stylist. However, when I was sewing back to back with the two machines, differences in the build quality and sewing experience became apparent. The Quantum Stylist is quieter, more substantial, and much smoother to use, thereby justifying the price difference.

I was intrigued by the Janome MOD-100Q, a computerized version of our former top pick, the MOD-19. It came with a robust package of accessories, including a walking foot and an extension table, so this was a solid start. But at times it felt like I’d break the machine or snap a needle while sewing on heavier tweed, and the throat space seemed like a tight fit for a bulkier project. Though the Mod-100Q was versatile and generally serviceable, our picks are better values.

The Singer Heavy Duty 6800C, a computerized machine in Singer’s controversial HD line, is undone by a fundamental design flaw. The machine boasts a start/stop button that allows the user to sew without a foot pedal, which is nice for miles of straight stitching or quilting. But its placement on the front of the machine, near the sewing space, is such that I kept banging into it accidentally, unintentionally starting the machine sewing while positioning my project. It was absolute chaos, and I did not enjoy it. I don’t think you would either.

The Singer Quantum Stylist Touch 9985 is a nifty-looking, metallic-lavender, computerized machine that’s heralded as a fancier version of our upgrade pick. But for us, the flash outstripped the utility. The LCD touch screen was more difficult to operate than a button-based interface, and the price increase feels gratuitous, considering how little this machine does differently from its cheaper sibling.

bicycle fork parts The Brother SE700 is a combination sewing and embroidery machine, and we found that it performed its sewing tasks well. But with its embroidery focus and plethora of included accessories, this model is more machine than a beginner can be expected to wrap their head around, and it’s out of scope for this guide.