Brother Sewing Machine, XM2701, Lightweight Machine with 27 Stitches, 6 Included Sewing Feet

I bought this sewing machine 6 years ago unsure if I would get really into the hobby— I had a simple project I wanted to do and my mom agreed to help get me started. We picked this machine and spending the money then felt like such a gamble because I was unsure if I’d use it!!! Well, I fell in love with sewing hook line and sinker thanks in part to this extremely easy to use and unfussy machine. I started with the YouTube video explaining how to do it alongside my mom who gave me a very quick lessons. From there, I was pretty much off to the races. I have used mostly wovens but have had success with knits as well. I’ve really been able to do everything with this machine. It is not limiting.I’ve sewn soooooo many projects at this point: Baby blankets Kids clothes (dresses, pants, shorts, fleece jacket, boys swim suit) Halloween costumes (Totoro gray and blue! A seagull! A buoy! A snail! Forky!) Tote bags Cosmetic bags/dop kits Fleece hats Chair covers Adult garments (dress, boxer shorts) Christmas stockings (felt) Hannukah banner I write this review because I am finally ready for an upgrade after 6 years with this machine. And I sewed a lot lot lot lot. The machine is still going strong but I now want a machine that will allow me more industrial strength to plow through more complicated (thicker) projects and is heavier. I also know now what kind of sewing I like and can buy a machine specifically for that. This is a great machine for anyone starting out who isn’t “sure” if the hobby is for you, or anyone wanting to do some sewing on a budget. I can’t really recommend it for someone who is advanced, but I don’t think super advanced sewists are considering this. My mom, sister, and I all have brother machines (theirs are nicer and computerized) and have found them extremely easy to use and reliable. If in doubt, get this machine!!!!!

What a great sewing machine! I am living in another state temporarily and I did not want to bring my Bernina- so I ordered this one hoping for the best. And honestly I think I like it better than the Bernina. It is very intuitive to thread and use- stitches are even, no fiddling with tension. It just works really well! The instruction booklet is good. I am not a expert seamstress by any means- and I have used the machine for craft projects and making children's clothing (the stretch stitches work great). I am not sure it is up to sewing heavy fabric- but this is not something I am doing now- so it's not any issue. I highly recommend this machine!

So far so good. I received this and it was light weight and easy to set up. I haven't sewn since high school and watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to thread machine and bobbin and I was off to the races. I need to practice but the machine worked great with no issues for simple seaming and taking up shoulder straps. I did try to force a think seem through it and broke a needle. Luckily, it comes with extras. This was completely my fault but I mention it so you don't do the same. Good purchase. Paying for itself in alterations fees.

My 20+ year old Sears Kenmore sewing machine finally died after serving me well over the years. At first I bought a Singer brand to replace it and immediately returned it for several reasons, one of which is that Singer no longer provides an instruction manual with their machines. You must download the manual to refer to online. I need a physical manual to refer to when I sew from time to time so I decided to replace it with this Brother XM2701 machine. It has a nice, easy to read, user manual! I don't sew often any longer, using it only for minor alterations, repairs and occasional projects or crafts, but so far it has been very easy to use. It has multiple stitch options and features - - some of which I will probably never use - - and is lightweight enough for me to take out and put away easily. I have not tried using it yet for very heavy fabrics like jean hems but I did make a t-shirt quilt, which is fairly thick, and it did just fine! Only downside is that it does not come with a carrying case, but I don't think many sewing machines do these days. I ended up buying a soft bag case on Amazon which is working fine.

I have never used a sewing machine in my life until I bought this. To put that in perspective, I'm 42 years old and a father of 2. When I told my wife I was going to buy a sewing machine, she looked at me like I was nuts. Which, to be fair, might be totally accurate, but I have no regrets about this purchase. I bought this because I hate throwing stuff away: pants that could be hemmed, knees that can be patched, whatever. Clothes are expensive, and sewing by hand is tedious. This machine comes with a great DVD that I watched once and promptly threw away. I threw it away because basically you can watch the same video on youtube without having to fiddle with a remote. I found it a lot easier to just search for "Brother sewing machine instruction video" and watch Brother's video on a tablet sitting right next to my machine. And let me say this, at first, I was pretty worried. Bobbins? What's a bobbin? Feet? Sewing machines are pretty complicated, but the instructional video was very good. I didn't know *why* I was threading the thread the places I was, but once I got it done, I sewed my first stitch! I won't say it was the cleanest job in the world, but I hemmed a pair of pants in a totally serviceable manner. After my second pair, I was rolling. I changed the thread without even looking at the video: new bobbin and all. That's how simple this device is: a totally non-sewing 42 year old can learn it in under 30 minutes. The stuff I sewed held strong and eventually even got to the point where it looked sharp (which is more a reflection on my lack of skill than any problem with the machine). I know, I'm not doing anything complicated here. I'm not making my own clothes or using really complicated stitches, but I think this machine will work for the overwhelming majority of the tasks I'll see in my household. I get that this machine wasn't made for me (the purple floral pattern is a pretty good hint), but I don't think any guy should be afraid of learning to sew. It's a great skill, and this is a great machine to start with.

Bought this for my 8 year old granddaughter to use at my house. She had loved to use my sewing machine (Husqvarna). She was so excited to compare the two machines and get it set up. She still needs adult help, but it's a great beginner machine. We'll use it for simple projects but it's very well laid out with easy instructions.

Wow. I'm an older "beginner" and what a great bargain. It worked for me right out of the box after a very small learning curve. It's very easy to use, has a "quick bobbin" feature and an auto threader that made it better, and I wasn't expecting anything from thos features. The "auto" threader took some effort, but much better than trying to thread itw/o assistance. and I've only had to do it once, so far. This is a great product. I won't be using it on anything tougher than jeans, which might be it's max capacity, so I won't find the upper limit. Highest rating for my purposes, and a lot more than I expected.

TL;DR The negative reviews scared me but the price and features ultimately convinced me to buy the machine, and I'm glad I did! I've been sewing very sporadically since art class in my senior year of high school in 2007-2008. I know the very basics of using a sewing machine but I've never used anything other than a straight stitch! I'd been using my sister's Singer Esteem to make masks for myself but when she moved a few miles away this month, I found it considerably less convenient to pop over to her house, so I started looking into buying my own sewing machine using Unemployment Insurance money. I knew I didn't want a Singer Esteem--that thing gets jammed if you look at it wrong. If ever faced with the choice to buy a Singer Esteem, please save yourself the trouble and just don't. There are things I like about it but ultimately it's mostly a pain in the neck. Upon conducting some research, I made a list of must-have features for me, a baby: adjustable speed, drop-in bobbin, & mechanical. I encountered the Brother XM2701 on many lists of best sewing machines for beginners, and it met all of my needs and generally received better reviews than, say, the Janome Magnolia 7318 at a better price point. I also had my eye on a Janome New Home available at Urban Outfitters for $165. You know, because it was pretty. I mean, it also fell in the lower half of my price range. Ultimately, though, that Janome only has 15 stitches, and paired with a truly cursed side-loading bobbin (which is also the scourge of the Singer Esteem that I hate so much), it seemed not worth the money when compared to a Brother XM2701, which has everything I absolutely need plus some nice bells and whistles like an automatic needle threader, some pretty decorative stitches, and a one-step buttonhole. Plus it has a thread cutter attached, which is essential; the Janome did not. For $201 (from Kasande Beauty Fast Shipping), this seemed like a no-brainer. I wasn't thrilled to be choosing between UO, a company I'd rather not buy from, and Amazon, a company I loathe because of its treatment of its own workers, but I figure a reliable sewing machine will be somewhat of a necessity for the next few years. I'm not better than you because I hate Amazon--we're the same because I still use it. And the brand has made itself a staple, so we're all going to come up against these moments where we have to choose to use it or look elsewhere. This was the most financially feasible option this time, so I chose Amazon. I did choose an independent seller without Prime shipping--but with free shipping--so the experience was really the best possible outcome. Anyway, Kasande Beauty Fast Shipping did, indeed, ship my item quickly so it arrived a few days later (I wanna say 2 or 3 days later?) in perfectly new condition as described. Setup was easy and I watched the instructional DVD via someone who'd uploaded it to Youtube because I just didn't feel like popping the disc in my PS4. I can't recommend that video highly enough--just brace yourself for the narrator. Her style of narration is extremely strange in ways I can't describe but it might grow on you. I followed her instructions to set up my machine. That narrator quickly ascended to the very top of my list of celebrities I'd like to meet. I also recommend keeping the user manual close at hand--it'll tell you everything you need to know about what settings to use for each stitch, and it'll have troubleshooting tips if things go wrong. I also recommend finding an independently-uploaded video on thread tension, because that can be tricky to grasp without precise visuals. For a straight stitch out of box, I'm using the setting just below 2.5, but it took a lot of trial and error to come to that conclusion. Other little things for beginners or seldom-sewers like me to get started easily? Use polyester thread if you can--choose a good brand like Gütermann if you can afford it. Using cotton threads and low-quality threads apparently gunks up your machine faster, which isn't the worst--you just need to clean it more often--but left untouched, can lead to it not working and needing servicing. I'm just paraphrasing what I read in the Questions section of this product page. If you buy extra bobbins (which you may not need--the machine comes with four, if I'm not mistaken), make sure they're Class 15 plastic bobbins. Have an iron (any old iron--I'm using my 10-year-old Toastmaster from college that I haven't used in about 8 years) and ironing board (or just a towel--because I don't have an ironing board) handy for lots of pressing! Keep an eye on the needle's sharpness and -do- change it when it gets dull rather than riding it out--if you work with knives, doing prep work, I know you feel me. If your needle's still sharp but not cutting it, you may be using the wrong needle for the job! You wouldn't use a nakiri to cut sashimi (well, you might use it to cut, for example, avocado "sashimi," so maybe this is a bad example). You wouldn't use a butter knife to cut steak. If the feed dogs won't feed because you're sewing the very edge of a piece or just a very small piece of fabric (which happened to me when I tried to sew a 1" x 6" pocket for a nose wire), put a piece of regular old paper--newspaper, notebook paper, printer paper, magazine paper--whatever you've got--under the fabric to cover all the feed dogs. It'll be louder than usual, but it'll get the job done! And you can easily tear the paper off the back of the fabric when you're done. Way less messy than it sounds. Overall, this machine operates smoothly and sews beautifully even stitches. It's easy enough to use--from auto-threading to bobbin loading--that I believe it would even suit a child as young as 9 or 10, if you were to find yourself with a kid eager to start on the DIY path (and if you had $200 to drop on a machine that will likely last them years, maybe decades--we'll see--with good maintenance habits). In my very short time sewing with it, I've learned so much and I have visual evidence that my sewing is already improving, getting neater, because I'm working with a quality machine that does everything it's supposed to do, and does it well without jamming. I assume that despite still-developing motor skills being what they are, a 9- or 10-year-old would be able to sponge up fluency in this machine even faster than I can. I don't know why I'm trying to push this machine for kids--I just like the idea of kids who want to learn to sew, and I wish I'd started earlier because it feels empowering. I'll drop by with an update in a few months. UPDATE 2022: Still love this machine. 💖

Näht Jeans perfekt und leicht. Schnurrt ganz leise wie ein Kätzchen und ist auf Lebenszeit geölt. Fühlt sich an wie eine teure elektronische und die Fadensysteme (oberer und unterer) funktionieren einfach automatisch. Völlig ausreichend für die alltäglichen kleinen Änderungen, Anpassungen ...

My wife is over the moon. She said it's brilliant and easy to use

I am a complete beginner to sewing and I love this machine. It is very easy to figure out/use, has clear picture instructions and comes with a starter accessory pack. It has a top load bobbin and super easy to thread. Comes with an automatic needle threader, multiple different stitches and buttonhole maker. I have used it for sewing towels and seems to work okay on some thicker material but not too thick. A flat towel it seems to go through good but if you fold a towel in half and try to stitch over it it will struggle. If you are sewing light to medium materials this is a great machine but if you are sewing a lot of heavier materials like denim I would consider getting another machine. The foot pedal is a bit sticky and you really have to press on it before it takes off.

No soy un experto de las máquinas de coser, el uso que le doy es principalmente para hacer dobladillos ocasionales y debo decir que la experiencia de uso es agradable y fácil, se cose muy bien y tiene muchas funciones y accesorios que ni siquiera he probado. Hasta ahora lo único que se me ha complicado un poco es cuando se trata de telas más gruesas porque la 'cosa' que sujeta la tela la aprieta tanto que no permite seguir moviendo la tela hacia atrás, pero realmente no es un error, en el manual te indican que levantes ligeramente la 'cosa' con la mano, así que es cuestión de práctica.

Légère, silencieuse, bonne machine pour une débutante