Brother FS40S 40-Stitch Electronic Sewing Machine, White

I had a New Home sewing machine back in the early 80’s when I was a teenager, my lovely Aunt got me one when I started a dressmaking course at college. I’m in my 50’s now and that machine has finally bit the dust, so I decided to invest in a new machine. I didn’t need anything too fancy but a reliable machine that can sew most materials with a double needle and fully automatic buttonhole ability. This Brother machine ticked all the boxes for me, I also did a little research and this one came up well thought of in reviews and even a sewing club review. It has 40 stitch designs including overlocking an important stitch for many fabric edges. I’ve used it so far on making a skirt and for sewing pieces of my machine knitted garments, like this baby cardigan in my photo here. I really like the brightly lit screen showing me clearly what stitch number I’m using and even advises what presser foot to use. It’s smart too and won’t sew if you haven’t got the presser foot down. I love the automatic sewing without the foot pedal, a big advance in sewing machines, the light is good too, especially as an LED rather than a bulb. The sewing machine has lots of extra presser feet and very easy to put on and off (no fiddly screws) too. All in all I recommend this Brother sewing machine, it’s build though plastic feels sturdy yet light, my only criticism is Brother should supply it with a better cover, the one it comes with is flimsy, but I’ve bought a sewing machine bag from John Lewis (measure the machine before you buy one, sewing bags do vary in size).UPDATE ON NEEDLE THREADINGI noticed someone ask about threading the needle on this sewing machine, honestly it’s really easy once you know how, you need a cheap plastic needle threader, I got two free when I purchased some thread from Amazon, see my photos to see what it is. I bent the fine metal part (that’s diamond shaped) down so I could hold it to thread the needle on the machine. Then hold the plastic bit of the needle threader and push the fine metal part through the eye of the needle from the BACK (that’s bits important) once pushed through take your thread and push it in between the metal diamond shape, hold the end of the thread and pull the needle threader backwards and out of the eye of the needle, it will pull the thread through the eye of the needle as it goes, keep pulling until it all through. See my photos to help you, once you know how easy it is you’ll do this every time easily. I hope this helps you.

This was bought as am upgrade as I fancied an electronic sewing machine and I can honestly say it was the right decision. Its light enough to move easily but does everything I needed. A good choice of stitches and easy to thread either the automatic needle threader. A good selection of stitcher feet were supplied as well. Excellent value for money.

Very smart machine. I bought this as my old machine finally gave up on me. I have been using sewing machines for 20 years and am a fairly confident user, however wanting quality at an affordable price I chose this Brother Machine. I did have my reservations as I had seen other reviews saying the machine sounded clunky, or the light wasn't bright or that the machine struggles with thicker fabrics and materials. I found nine of them applied to me Easy threading, a great variation of styles of stitches, easy bobbin wind up. The quide was fairly easy to understand. I could only imagine those leaving lesser favourite reviews were not using the machine correctly as yes you are required to use different sewing feet and needles for different fabrics and have a play about with the tensio. Etc. The light is actually brighter than other machines I use and the choice of stitches are great for adding a little extra detail to your work. love it.

My wife wanted a new machine to replace a vintage hand-operated model she has, and this electric machine has been a revelation.She particularly likes the 40 stitch types, along with the seperate speed settings. She is re-learning some old skills and finds the push button settings a useful feature, and has even tried over-locking for the first time.Set up is reasonable, but perhaps in hindsight an automatic needle threader would have been a bonus. This machine does not have such a feature, but once you have carried out the set up a few times it soon becomes easier.The machine is not noisy in operation, and my wife finds that she is becoming much more confident even though she has so far only done a couple of projects. She finds the machine is quite intuitive now.This is a good machine, and despite having only a 40w motor it has coped with the materials she has so far used - even a heavy pair of denim jeans giving no trouble at all.You get a few different feet, needles and bobbins, along with a basic tool. The instruction pamphlet is reasonably clear, but care is required to begin with while reading it (some instructions relate to models with auto threading and so on and we found it easy to initially get side tracked).Certainly, we think this is a nice machine that is very suitable for a beginner, and copes well with more general duties as long as the materials used are not too heavy.

My previous machine died on me so bought this. Tried not using the foot pedal which at first was weird but now I love it! Love that I can change the speed so easily.Its so easy to use.The overlock stitch works well too. Absolutely love it and for the price, a great sewing machine for beginners+ I've only took up sewing last year, so fairly new to sewing and I've made lots of garments using this already. The buttonhole is really easy and button foot took a little getting used to but easy once I sorted how to move the needle position with digital buttons rather than a manual slider. I'd have no hesitation in recommending this. Great little machine. Oh and really lightweight too.