Review on 🧵 Brother CS6000i Sewing and Quilting Machine: 60 Built-in Stitches, LCD Display, Wide Table, 9 Sewing Feet Included by Linda Diaz

This is my first sewing machine so I can't compare to others, but I feel like I can give newbies a pretty good non-technical perspective on all of this. I have never sewn (except for 8th grade at home etc. experience of constantly fixing the machine and almost never sewing). I was interested in learning to quilt but was afraid it would be too frustrating to be a fun hobby. I bought this car with the idea that if I liked it I would replace it with a better car pretty quickly. The car sat in the box for a little over a year. But when I finally started using it, I seriously couldn't believe how easy and fun it was. Since then I have made a Jess Brown rag doll, 3 life size quilts and 4 baby quilts (in a year and a half). I feel like I've already gotten my money's worth! I thought about buying an upgrade but decided I really don't want it at the moment. My machine sews wonderfully, is easy to thread and never causes me any trouble, that's all I wanted at the moment. It doesn't scare me, which is very important to me (stupid as it sounds, but I was scared of it!) Here are my recommendations for beginners: 1. If you have a friend who can sew, ask him to come and you teach how to thread the spool, fuel the machine and adjust the tension (I only had to adjust the tension the first day and everything has been fine ever since). Basically, once you can do these things, you're ready to go. A friend can also help with the most obvious things. For example, the first day I kept getting an error message because I didn't press the pedal ha) 2. Only use good yarn and buy extra bobbins. I use Aurafil thread (I guess I make stuff I want to keep forever so it's worth a few bucks more) and metal spools from Amazon (despite other reviews saying not to use metal spools. They're great for me.) 3. Buy extra needles and change needle after each project. If you don't do this, stitches will be skipped as I zigzag on the piping, or it will look like it leaves large holes. (You can learn how to do everything on your machine, such as changing needles)4. Buy a better quality ($5) seam ripper than the tiny one that comes with it. (I don't use it often, but it's much better when I do) 5. Be prepared to set aside some money for things you will need. I was a little surprised at how much I had to buy for quilting. Cloth, cutters, rulers, cutting board, staples, glue spray, etc. But when you have everything, you don't need to replace it often. An entire blanket can be sewn with this machine (including quilting). For tying, I would recommend the zig zag stitch because it holds up much better and looks nicer too (I used a straight stitch on my first quilt and it doesn't lie flat).7. Fabric stores are full. For my first quilt, I went to one of those fashion boutiques, which are a bit more expensive, and bought some fabric. This gave me a good idea of what brands best suit my style (cotton and steel, art gallery) and now I can shop at fabric.com or big stores without getting overwhelmed. Hope this helps someone! The photo is a screenshot from my Instagram of the second thing/blanket I made on this machine.