Today, my really nice sewing/embroidery machine decided it needs a break. So … it took one. It was obviously in need of a vacation because about an hour into my studio time this morning, the thread broke on the machine. I rethreaded the machine and started back to quilting, but it was obvious that there was something wrong – the bobbin thread looks like a two year old tried to draw it in. I’m pretty sure that the machine just needs a good cleaning, but I can’t even get it to the shop till next weekend. And being arm deep in quilts that I need to get finished … what choice did I have but to go buy a cheap machine as a back up?

I looked at different machines on line, but the truth is, these days you’re sort of at the mercy of whatever the department/big box stores have on hand if you need a machine quickly. I headed to Wal-Mart – my least favorite place on earth, but the one I figured most likely to have something that may work. I didn’t want anything fancy – when you’re quilting all you really need is a straight stitch. You don’t even really need reverse, because there is no reverse in quilting – IF you know what you’re doing, that is. A lot of women use the old Singer Featherweight – a machine I would LOVE to have, but cannot currently afford. And I wanted something today – I didn’t want to wait for shipping. But I digress (I will right after you see this beautiful machine, anyway).

So there I was, at my local Wal-Mart, which does not have a fabric department, thinking I would be lucky to find a kiddie machine in the toy department. But as luck would have it, they had the Brother SQ-9000 sewing & quilting machine. My main machine is a Brother, I intend for my next expensive machine to be a Brother, so I couldn’t really see a down-side to buying this machine as a back up. My cousin has had more than one Brother she bought from Wal-Mart over the years, and has always liked them. This machine was $200, and what influenced me to purchase it was the accessories that came with it.

The feet alone are worth quite a bit – it came with a walking foot (I paid $45 for the one I bought for my more expensive Brother) and a 1/4″ seam foot ($30). It also came with a foot you use for free-motion quilting (I got that with my other Brother as well) and several other feet. The best thing is, the machine uses the same feet and bobbins as my PC-8500. The one thing the SQ-9000 doesn’t have that I wish it did is a thread cutter. With a press of the button, the PC-8500 cuts the thread at the end of a seam, and I love that thing. It did come with a quilting table – I’m not sure how useful the “large” quilting table would be just sitting on a table, but it comes in handy when used in conjunction with my Horn of America cabinet. The cabinet uses custom inserts to give an even sewing table, fitting around the machine being housed within, and of course the PC-8500’s insert doesn’t fit the SQ-9000. But the quilting table helps even out the surface somewhat, as you can see here.

In my opinion, this is an excellent machine for $200. It is very lightweight, but my dad used the same model machine to make boat seat covers using heavy vinyl, so I know it’s got enough horsepower to sew together lightweight cottons. What surprises me most about this machine is the feel of it as it runs – I’ve used a lot of cheap machines before, and I won’t lie to you. Most of them FEEL cheap. But this one feels like a much more expensive machine. It’s a little louder and sounds a little more mechanical than the PC-8500, but then, I paid $2000 for the 8500 …

I can’t say for sure how well this machine will perform over time – yet. But I suspect that if it’s like every other Brother sewing machine I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with, it’s going to be quite the little workhorse. I’ll keep you updated on how it works out. 🙂