Brother PQ1500SL Sewing and Quilting Machine, Up to 1,500 Stitches Per Minute, Wide Table, 7 Included Feet

This is the second machine I've ever owned, my first being a Brother Pacesetter PS-1250, vintage mid 90's. At that time, never having used a sewing machine, I just wanted to learn and understand it. Up until now I've only made beginner projects: pillow cases with french seams, zippers, piping, as well covers for amplifiers, welders, etc. Now that I can make a nice seam without puckers I want to move up to clothing. My old machine works as well as it ever did. However, it does not have the slow speed control I want and need. Having no desire for decorative stitches, software, USB, LCD touch screen, or embroidery capabilities, I settled on the Brother PQ1500SL straight stitch machine. Coming with an assortment of useful presser feet, a presser foot lift lever for when you need to keep your hands on the fabric, and a matching extension table, the PQ1500SL is an attractive package. I got mine at Christmas, and after running through six bobbins of thread I'm ready to review it.How does is sew? Beautifully! It will sew one stitch at a time, a feature I very much like. I rarely floor it, and even then usually by accident. 1300 spm is way too fast for me at this time It is very quiet. The thread cutter, which I distrusted at first because I thought I'd lost the bobbin thread, is quite reliable. As for the bobbin, you don't need to catch the bobbin thread. You just lay the loose thread around the razor underneath the throat plate cover and the machine catches it automatically. Very clever I'd say. Speaking of the bobbin, as shipped, its tension was too loose. Not that I know about these things, it was just that the stitching did not look as posh as expected. The tension instructions in the manual were not detailed enough for me. A search on YouTube led me to an excellent video by an English lady who does not use electric sewing machines at all! In YouTube search on "How to adjust the Tension on a Vintage Long Bobbin Sewing Machine - 1934 Singer 128K Indian Star" for a lucid description. (I am purposely omitting the hyperlink.) After following her detailed instructions for setting the bobbin tension, from the stitches alone, you now can hardly tell the needle side from the bobbin side.The installed presser foot is called the "pin feed foot." At 3/8" it is a little narrower than the general purpose foot. It also has a slit in the back soas not to touch the pin feed. This is the main foot I use because both its back and front are hinged and spring loaded. When you come to a bulk bump, this foot just climbs up and over it, like a tank, without putting stress on the machine. Even at a slow speed you usually don't have to tug the fabric. By the way, the pin feed is a feed dog setting. Put the lever in the pin feed setting and a little sharp pin will come up with the feed dogs and give extra grab for heavy fabric. (It also retracts when the feed dogs go down for safety.)As I said, I wanted to sew clothing and have completed my very first skirt project, Simplicity #1369, the first pattern I ever bought. It turned out OK for a beginner. (It was made to my wife's measurements and fits her well, although she has no intention of wearing it.) Since I didn't like the gathers, I sewed two darts in the front and made box pleats in the back. For the first time I under stitched, stitched in the ditch, and installed an invisible zipper using the included invisible zipper foot. Now I must confess that I was very happy I bought a "professional" $6 Dritz seam ripper, because it got plenty of use! The raw edges are all serged. The seams are straight. The zipper goes up and down smoothly. From the side when worn, the skirt has a somewhat Victorian look in that the front is flat and the back side is puffed out. The project was fun, and the sewing machine enabled me to do my best.

Bought this for my wife and she loves it. She’s used it weekly for a year with no issues.

This was my first sewing machine, and I’ve had it for a little over a year now. I’d say that it works for beginners, but I want to emphasize that this kind of machine does one thing, but does it well: straight stitch. This machine won’t do zig zag stitches or any of the other fancy ones, but it sews quickly and the stitches are neat. Do not buy this machine if you want more stitch options! Do buy this machine if you want a high powered quilting machine with a good throat space.What You Get: The machine comes with several feet that you can put on easily. The free motion quilting foot, walking foot, and 1/4” foot are the three you’ll likely use the most if you’re quilting. My 1/4” foot is actually a 1/4”, so it’s a nice tool to have for seam allowance. There are a few others that I haven’t used as much, but you are getting a pretty wide variety! And theoretically, any high shank foot will work with this machine. You get a metal bobbin, some cleaning tools, a few needles, and a screwdriver set as well. There’s an extension table that helps quite a bit with the weight of the quilt.Pros: This machine has held up very well since I got it last December (12/2019). I’ve taken it to get serviced and haven’t had many problems. I’ve quilted twin sized quilts on my PQ1500SL, and I’d say it could sew a queen sized as well. My caution with quilting king and queen quilts is that the amount of fabric would be a pain to manage, although I’d say it’s doable!Once you get the hang of threading it, the machine is very straight forward to manage. It has a lever to the right for the back stitch function, and you can adjust need height, tension, and stitch length. If there’s an issue with the machine, I’d suggest rethreading it to see if that fixes it. It’s worked most of the time for me!The machine holds the fabric pretty still when you’re sewing. I’ve swapped back and forth between this and a more entry level machine that I got for the stitches, and I’m amazed at how well the Brother grips the fabric.Finally, the price for this is amazing. Look for any other straight stitch machine, and they’ll like be over 1000. The exception being the Juki, but I’m unfamiliar with that machine. The Brother really is a good deal for the amount of power you’re getting in this machine.Cons:You can’t see the bobbin and don’t get told when you’re running short. This is a huge pain if you’re mid quilting.Thread cutter cutting short. I’ve seen this in a lot of reviews- this is a pain. I’ve found that raising the foot tends to eliminate this problem; I’ll just tug the thread to get it to a longer length. If you’re not watching it though, you’re going to have to rethread the machine.Automatic threader- I have never used this. I tried following the pictures and I have no idea what’s going on over there. Hand threading is easy, so no worries.Hope this little novel helps!