Review on 🧵 Brother XM1010 Sewing Machine with 10 Built-in Stitches and 4 Included Sewing Feet by Carol Miller

This is my newest of many Brother machines over the years, so I'm very familiar with the product line and its capabilities. My current main unit (HC1850) has a lot more bells and whistles, but I thought it would be nice to have a backup workhorse on hand in case something went wrong. I would also love to help beginners learn how to rope and thought this simpler pattern would work well for that. Well I was right about the first part. I'm not sure about the second. First the good: For the price, this is a well-built, solid workhorse of the machine. What is little known is that Brother and a few other big brands make a separate line of cheap and low-quality machines for discount stores like Walmart - these machines are mostly made of plastic, even the important moving parts inside, making them prone to early failure and almost impossible for adjustment and repair. Luckily this car is NOT like that! While it claims to be easy, it's not, and that's a good thing. You want a machine with carbide parts inside because it lasts longer, performs better, takes on heavier projects, and can be repaired, adjusted, and maintained for years. You can feel how strong it is not only when moving, but also when lifting and lowering the sewing foot. This keeps your fabric in place and handles multiple layers without changing gears. It's also quite noisy when running, but it's a workhorse, not a delicate flower. A few more positive notes: although there are only basic accessories, it has a new design and is very chic. The zipper foot and button foot are now partly made of clear plastic, which is awesome: placement on the base fabric is very important for zippers and buttons, and being able to see through the sewing foot makes TOO much sense! I don't know why nobody thought of this many years ago! It also comes with a small smart screwdriver perfect for removing the bobbin case. The old screwdrivers were too long, they were only good for replacing the car legs and nothing else! Such a simple thing, just a small piece of cut metal, but it makes life easier! Not so much now - It has a very short cord. This is one of those combo cables that connects the power supply and foot pedal to the machine at a point next to the switch. This style is a bit restrictive overall, but on this machine in particular, the pedal cord is VERY short. I have a custom sewing table that will easily fit many different machines, but the length of this cord makes the machine sit at an awkward angle. Even if you currently have the perfect spot for it, it limits where and how you can sew in the future. The bobbin winder is simplified as much as possible, and you don't need to wind the bobbin by hand. All the machines I've used in the last 6 or 7 years have had the empty bobbins sit on a small lever that holds the end of the winding thread and cuts it after the end and some have a thread guide/stopper. when winding, they lie more firmly against the inner coil. This one has neither: you have to thread the end through the tiny hole on each clear spool and hold the end as you start winding. For me it's just an inconvenience, but if you have vision or dexterity problems it can become almost impossible. It doesn't have a built-in needle threader, not even the simplest spring-loaded lever to get a tiny loop. pull part of the thread through the eye of the needle so that the rest can be pulled through by hand. Again, this is just a little uncomfortable for me, but for someone with vision problems, threading a needle is a HUGE ordeal (the needle threader on my mom's machine stopped working and she had to stop sewing because she just couldn't see the needle ). eye good enough to thread through). Even if you don't have vision problems, it can be frustrating. I was teaching a teenage girl how to set up her typewriter and the whole operation almost collapsed because she was having so much trouble threading the needle by hand. Of course, a needle threader isn't an essential part of a basic sewing machine, but for a machine like this that can make automatic buttonholes, it doesn't seem like it could cost much more to install and thus be available to every user. a large proportion of the population - recessed lights are not bright at all. The bulb is tiny and only illuminates the left side of the sewing foot. Even with my relatively good eyesight, I need an extra desk lamp to see what I'm doing. No feeder control: you are awake all the time. The truth is you want them up most of the time, and you probably wouldn't want to be freehand sewing on a basic machine like this anyway, but it's nice to be able to lower them when you're working on a project or fabric you're not grasping and want to hold out for you. Some other features I'm used to from my other machines like one touch needle up/down and touch reverse stitching. You really don't expect to find one on a budget car. The backstitch button spring is quite tight here, but it works well. And you just have to get used to using the side wheel to control needle position again! In fact, it's probably a good thing for new seamstresses to learn before they switch to a more expensive machine that does too much for them. - friendly or affordable as I was hoping for an entry level car. But as I used it more I realized that it is indeed a very durable and hard working machine. For this price you could certainly drive much worse. But if you have any vision or dexterity issues, Brother makes the machines a bit more expensive, which include basic amenities to make winding and threading the needle easier for everyone. I will definitely only be using this as a backup machine and would not recommend it to anyone learning to sew on their own for the first time.