Singer Quantum Stylist 9960 Review

Over the holidays we travel to visit family. Normally I just bring cutting supplies, but over the summer they got a new sewing machine here! So since I've had the pleasure of sewing on it extensively for my Bonnie Hunter mystery, I thought I would share a little review with you.

This is just a mini review since I've only really used it for piecing.   In general, it's a pretty fancy little machine with a lot of capabilities.

My absolute favorite things about this machine is that it includes an automatic thread cutter. What a life saver. That is the one feature my Bernina is missing and I very nearly chose to buy a different machine because of it. When chain piecing I just pressed the button after each piece and it would cut the threads and then hold them under the throat plate so that the needle wouldn't come unthreaded. It was FANTASTIC! If you are on the market for a new machine, you MUST get one with this feature!

Another pro of this machine is that it is default set to needle down. Clearly designed for quilters. My Bernina is set to default needle up and it's annoying that every time I turn it on I have to press the needle down button. A small thing, but it makes a difference.

And the final thing that I LOVED about this machine is this patchwork foot.

The two things that make it so fantastic is that it is clear and that it is extra long, so you can very carefully guide your pieces in. I really think my piecing accuracy was significantly improved using this foot. I even went searching for an equivalent Bernina foot but haven't found one yet.

I also wanted to show you the extension table that came with this machine.

Check out all that space! I definitely think it's bigger than my Bernina.

But of course I have noticed some down sides to this machine as well. It's not all roses! Here are some:

• It comes with an automatic threader, but I couldn't get it to work. And I should know how to work it because it's designed exactly like the one on my Bernina. So that was annoying.
• Threaded the bobbin is a gigantic pain. Like, gigantic. Oh my gosh. Made me very very thankful for my Bernina. You have to manually put the thread through that tiny hole on the top and tug on it while starting the winding. It was really tedious and it took me about a half hour of attempts before I even got it to go correctly. Not happy!

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• I did experience a little bit of  fabric edges getting sucked into the throat plate. Not a ton, but more frequent than I experience on my Bernina.
• On more than one occasion the thread got loose from that loop above the needle and messed up my stitching. Not a big deal, but it definitely happened often enough that it wasn't just a fluke. At least I figured out that was the problem so whenever my stitches were wonky I knew exactly where to check.
  
• Switching between regular feet was pretty easy, but to put on the walking foot you have to use a screwdriver. Definitely made me hesitant to use it because it took so long to put on and take off.

So that's a pretty broad overview of piecing on this machine. I'm really happy to have a machine I can use while I'm traveling!

I also meant to post a while ago my boyfriend's sister and I made sweatshirts together over Thanksgiving on this machine.

I think we both agreed that the sweatshirts came out pretty awful, but I was just glad to get her using the machine. We are working our way through a Craftsy class on sewing with knits, which I will post a review of soon.

And of course I've been working away on my Bonnie Hunter mystery. Working so much that I haven't had time to post! I'm really proud though because I am actually on track with the clues this year, for I think the first time. Clue 6 was the big reveal, and the final quilt looks really cool! Here is one of the two blocks that will make up the quilt:

Now, back to sewing!