Brother CS6000i Sew Advance Sew Affordable 60-Stitch Computerized Free-Arm Sewing Machine
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Brother CS6000i Sew Advance Sew Affordable 60-Stitch Computerized Free-Arm Sewing Machine
Customer Review: bitter-sweet
Summary: 3 Stars
The Brother 6000i was the third sewing machine I bought since teaching myself to sew in 1995. The origial Singer I purchased died about four years ago. Because of the great service my Singer performed, I decided to purchase a second Singer, a different model with additonal stitch functions. Shortly after purchasing this second machine, the timing-not on one machine but on both machines, was disrupted within about a month time period of each other. To make matters worse, the newer macine costed over $100 to be repaired...and broke immediately after bringing it home. The dealer that I took the machine to refused to correct the problem and wanted to charge me an additional fee to re-repair it. I ended up throwing the newer machine away. However, I did take the older machine to another dealer, it was fixed, and provided me with several more years of service.
After my bad experience with the second Singer, I decided to purchase a Brother. A little leary at first, but I was pleasently satisfied with the 6000i's performance. Nevertheless, I noticed that if I sewed at high speeds, the bobbin threads would tangle and be followed by an error message. After getting around this, the machine worked great until recently. After moving, I unpacked my sewing machine. I noticed that the bobbin pin was broken. I took it to a sew and vac dealer and they were going to charge me $100 just to open the machine up. My husband was able to open the machine up and removed the damanged bobbin pin. I called Brother International to have the part sent to me. After search for the part for about a week, BI discovered that the part was not readily available and it would take them three to four weeks to get the piece and that the LITTLE PLASTIC PIECE would cost around $16 and wouldn't be available for at least four weeks.
Desperate to sew, I bought a portable bobbin winder. Unfortunatly, with all of this activity, the machine no longer sews properly and I'll probably have to trash it.
I'm not in a rush to buy another sewing machine any time soom. Although my Brother served me well, I was told that lower end machines come with their share of problems-especially with the timing. The thing is that I enjoyed this machine, and I'm not sure if spending more money on a higher end machine is the answer. Even my original Singer lasted for a number of years and was built to last. The newer machines have shiny bells and whistles but aren't worth the plastic that they are built with.
Customer Review: Nice machine, cryptic instructions
Summary: 3 Stars
I am an inexperienced sewer, so had to go by the manual for just about everything including winding the bobbin, threading the machine etc. (Not sure if other sewers would have the same experience as I did.) I did get some sewing experience when I was 12 years old and my grandmother bought me a small sewing machine, but most of what I learned then I have forgotten these days, and it only comes back in bits and pieces.
However I am an intelligent tech-savvy woman working in the IT industry, and usually find my way fairly quickly with new electronic devices, with or without manual. This is why it surprised and frustrated me to no end that I struggled with it so much!
The main reason for that was:
1 - The instruction manual did not contain nearly enough pictures to guide me through the entire process.
2 - The manual was made generic to suit several model ranges, and there was no way of knowing which set of instructions matched my machine. Especially given the lack of pictures. I hate when it goes "If your model contains this feature, please refer to the instructions on page x." How am I supposed to know if I have "automatic needle threading"?
3 - There is no decent reference to a website containing more (or more specific!) information.
While I can understand that printing a 30 page manual specifically for the machine you're selling must be expensive - ahem - I still think a little slip of paper with a web address on it containing *machine-specific* information should be doable. Help your customers find their own way! The best service is no service. (i.e. the best services is when the customer doesn't need any interaction with the company at all.)
That said, once I made several errors and spent some frustrated evenings figuring out the specificities of the machine (thank you, internet and YouTube tutorials!) I have now learned to use some basic stitches and have sewn some simple projects. While I have no experience with other machines to compare this one to, I like the feel of the machine. Also, given the lack of instructions in the manual on oiling the machine, I assume oiling isn't necessary unlike with other machines - so it's maintenance-free, I like that!
Overall not sure if given the choice between a lesser machine with better instructions, or this machine with only the bare basics, I would opt for this one again. However I'm not unhappy and bear in mind I was very inexperienced when I started sewing with this machine.
Customer Review: So Far, So Good!
Summary: 5 Stars
I am brand new to sewing and bought the Brother CS6000i in early March of 2011 after I had enrolled in an Intro to Sewing class and after having read a review on "Sewing Machines for Beginners" at [](The review of this Brother machine on this site is seriously comprehensive. I encourage anyone who is considering purchase of the CS6000i to read it through.) So, I've been sewing on both the Brother at home and Janome Sewist 500 in class.
Here are some likes and dislikes so far comparing the Brother to the Janome:
Brother - I like the auto-winding bobbin where you simply line up a notch on the bobbin to the spring (?) on the winder so that it 'locks', then wind some thread around it 5-6 times; it's is a little more timely than the ...
Janome - where you need to thread the bobbin through the top left eye and hold it 'up and away' and taut to ensure it threads tightly enough.
Brother - I like the stitches better than the Janome. The setting for a straight stitch at '3' on the Brother is similiar to the length of '2.5' on the Janome. And they seem 'cleaner' - but that may be because I'm new and not used to the foot pedal.
Brother - the ability to set speed is a real help especially for a beginner who still needs to feel out how to use the foot pedal. There is also an option to use the 'on' button to sew if the foot pedal is not connected to the machine whereas on the...
Janome - there is only the foot pedal option and I sometimes found I was going too fast and would lose control; or too slow and got stuck especially on sewing the zipper.
The light on the Brother is not great. They like to advertise how bright it is, but I personally didn't find it that bright at all. I haven't figured out the auto threading yet, however, I'm fine threading by hand as long as the thread is cut on a bias!
It did a nice job on my stitching a patch to my jeans (I switched the needle with a size 14 needle which arrived in the accessory pack.)
And the zipper foot seems to be easier to manage/sew with on the Brother compared to the Janome. I even ripped out the Janome stitches on the zipper and re-did all the stitching on the Brother and it seemed a helluva lot simpler than in class.
I'll see how it does once I'm an 'intermediate' sewer and more adventurous.
Thank you, Amazon.
:)
Customer Review: 5 stars - for the money
Summary: 5 Stars
Bottom line - it isn't a $[...] machine and doesn't sew like one, but it is enough like one to make the price feel like a big bargain!
I am a sewing machine junky, or so my husband says. I didn't really need a new sewing machine last year, but my 8 year old wanted to start sewing. I had the $1000 machine and I had the older harder to use models. I needed something fairly cheap, but easy to use so that she could get her shot at things.
I researched fairly heavily and landed on the Brother CS6000I.
First, the machine was reasonably priced and came with tons of equipment. I like that I didn't have to go buy a flat table for quilting or all the various feet involved with that. I also appreciate the hard cover that came with it.
Second, it is easy to use. The bobbin winding is well marked, as is the threading of the machine. Picking the right stitch is easy - and there are 60 to choose from (kind of sort of - arguably, there are only about 58 or so, but that is getting picky.) There is a speed control, which was great for DD since she could set things up to stitch slowly at first. The manual is readable, but still a sewing machine manual, so a bit limited in usefulness.
Third, it is lightweight - and easy to move around.
OK - cons -
It doesn't feel like there is as much room to the right of the needle as some of my other machines. I think it has to do with the shape of the body - the curve kind of eats into your space if you have half a queen sized quilt rolled up so you can stitch on it.
There isn't much light, despite the fact that the brag about how bright the light is. However, I have a desk lamp set up to light the back of the machine and another on the left and I have all the light I want. It really isn't a big deal.
It doesn't have some stitches that I like - like a good blanket stitch for putting on binding. However, I have found other stitches that essentially do the same thing.
Anyway - I didn't get my daughter to use it as much as I intended. But, I have made several quilts on it this year and have enjoyed it much more than I ever expected. The money was well spent and knowing what I know now, I wouldn't hesitate to buy this machine again.
Customer Review: A very good choice for me!
Summary: 4 Stars
I haven't sewn in over 30 years but I wanted to start with the hobby again. I have my mother's old White machine in a cabinet down in my cellar. Its a really good machine despite its age but I wanted something more portable and had hoped for a computerized machine. But I also didn't want to spend tons of money. So after looking around for a bit, I finally decided on this machine. I've had it for about a month now and have used it just about every day and have been very pleased with my purchase.
Its nice and light-weight but it still feels pretty sturdy. I was worried about the tension issues several ppl wrote about but I did find that high quality thread and a little bit of reading the manual did the trick. Once I tinkered around with the setting a bit, the tension was fine. I absolutely love the button stop/start! In fact, I haven't even bothered to plug in the foot pedal. Changing the pressure foot and needles is pretty simple as is threading the needle. And I love all the stitches even tho I'll probably never use them all!
I do have a few minor peeves with the machine but I do stress they are MINOR. As others have pointed out, the light is next to useless. The spindle the thread sits on depresses too easily so you have to keep pulling it back up when you put on a new spool of thread. The main thing I've had to get use to is the fact it resets the stitch back to the default setting (straight stitch) everytime you turn it on. I guess this is ok if you mainly do straight stitching. I do find this an annoyance but when you really think about it, its just like any other computer when you boot it up. It goes back to the default settings. I'm getting much better at remembering it now but sometimes I still find myself straight stitching when I wanted to zig-zag to continue where I left off the day before.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this machine for the average user. I don't generally do really heavy materials like denims so I can't attest to how well it will handle them especially at the hems. But I do small quilt pieces and have had up to 8 layers made up of cloth, a couple layers of batting, thermal batting and bias tape)and I've had no problems. So for me, this machine has been the right choice!