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List Price: $699.99
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Okay, here's the thing. I've spent the last several years happily sewing along with my Huskystar E20 by Husqvarna. It's a basic machine, but it got the job done. Really, I was happy, but I had no idea what I was missing out on. When I was recently upgraded to this Singer Quantum Stylist machine, I was at first skeptical of the computerized side of it and slightly concerned it would be too much machine for me: a beginner seamstress.
When the machine arrived I couldn't wait to try it out, I opened it immediately and carefully read through the manual (which is surprisingly simple for a machine with so many features). I wound the bobbin and threaded the machine while reading the instructions on how to do so very carefully it's just a tad different than your basic machine where the spool sits on top. Once I got all set up with some brown thread and a white dish towel to practice on, I slowly pushed down on the pedal and WOW.
"It sews like magic!!!" I exclaimed, and my husband laughed. And then I went crazy trying out all the features that were new to me, since I formerly only owned a very basic machine. I was shocked at how smoothly and quietly this Singer machine runs. The computerization of it is simple and easy to get the hang of.
Since receiving the machine a few weeks ago now I've completed more sewing projects than I've ever done in my life. This machine is wonderful and makes me feel more like a professional than a beginner (which I am!) I've always used sewing machines, I grew up doing projects on my mom's now-vintage Singer, but I've never really gotten into it. Now with this machine, I'm always excited for that next new project. I love sewing!!! WITH my SINGER, that is.
I understand that there are many machines on the market with the same or at least similar features, this isn't the only machine that can wow a beginner who's just moving up from the most basic machine. BUT, if you are someone looking to invest in a nicer machine with more features, I can definitely recommend THIS one! And if you're someone like I *used* to be, who doesn't think you NEED a fancy machine and that your basic one is just fine think again. I'm sold!
My favorite part is that even through all the projects I've completed already, I haven't had this machine jam at all. Not. Even. Once. This is new to me. I used to have such trouble with learning how to set the tension and my old Huskystar would jam seemingly constantly. This Singer machine is a smart machine. I haven't had a single jam and I'm LOVING it. I can just get through my project without stopping every few minutes and grabbing my seam ripper to unhook a clump of thread.
Other features I've been so impressed with are:
* The self-cutting feature is SO cool. When you're done with a seam, you press a button and it finishes off for you amazing! The bobbin thread ends up below the feed dog again but there is no need to draw it back up just start your next seam and keep going. It also makes for less thread waste.
* The massive number of different decorative stitches it can do is amazing! I sewed a line of bicycles down my kitchen towel BICYLCES! With little girls at home, I'm having great fun with the hearts, flowers, and letters, too.
* Despite having to learn a slightly new system of threading & bobbin-winding/loading, after the first few times it became second nature and easy. The self-threading needle tool is (I'll say it again) AMAZING! So easy, this machine.
* Loving the speed control. Sometimes I just want to go fast, and other times I want to go s l o w and carefully, so this is a great feature.
* Programmable patterns are really neat to play with and add special touches to your projects.
* Comes with plenty of accessories to get your started and then some, an impressive number of special feet!
As I already said, if you have a basic (blah) machine, and you're even just thinking about someday upgrading THIS is the machine I would pick for you! It's a complete joy to use and to have around. It upstaged my Husqvarna big time. Singer makes a fantastic machine. I would definitely also consider any of their machines in the future. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a sewing project to go work on...
UPDATE 2/1/12 I've now owned and used this machine for over five months, and I'm happy to report that I love it just as much as day one, if not more. Now that I'm so familiar with this sewing machine, getting set up and going is even faster. I love the speed at which I can start and finish a project. This past week I had my first hiccups with jams on this machine. I was very disappointed when it started jamming every few stitches. Honestly, I sort of panicked and asked my left-brained husband to help me figure out what was wrong. I did a little bit of troubleshooting to no avail, then finally my husband tinkered with it for a while and had it fixed. Turns out, all that needed to be done was to re-thread the machine! Duh! It's also important to note, I was sewing with a thin, low quality fabric (which I will never choose again) and I ended up needing to re-thread a couple times when sewing with that fabric. After that, when I switched over to better fabric that was more thick and typical of what I use, this machine no longer had any issues. Also, I have to say, that my first jam occurring after whole 5 months of use is pretty awesome.
UPDATE 1/17/13 Just popping in to say I still adore this machine. Almost a year and a half later and tons of sewing projects under my belt--I still have had no real jamming or tension issues and love to use my Quantum Stylist by Singer. Also, I notice that the price has come down a bit since it was first released. Worth every penny, I'd say.
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First of all, I wanted to point out that this machine comes with the value added accessory package as well as the hard case and extension table. You will see that advertised on other websites, but the Amazon description does not state it. So it was a very pleasant surprise to open the box and see those accessories included.
As for the machine, you really could not get a better deal for your money. I'll admit, I've been pretty leery of Singer in the past few years and have several sewing machines. I'm actually replacing a computerized Kenmore with this one and know that I made an excellent choice. The features on this machine are outstanding. The fact it has an automatic thread cutter was enough to get me to buy this. The stitch quality is excellent and the monograms come out perfect. Selecting your stitches is as easy and adjusts the stitch length and width along with tension, automatically. But you do have the choice to set those yourself as well and that is not hard to do. Another feature that is not mentioned is the fact the machine has dual lighting on the bed. So not only is the area where the presser foot lit, but also the bed of the machine. It lights up the whole area very well. You normally find this only on high end machines.
For $329, you just can't go wrong. I've sewed with machines that cost 3-4 times as much and this does just as well as they did. Not to mention the amount of stitches this machine has is unreal! Singer has definitely hit the mark with this machine and I'm surprised this isn't selling faster!
Lastly, I want to mention that you should be receiving the updated model. Initially, when this machine came out a couple of years ago, there were some issues with the bobbin jamming. So I think that is why some people were hesitant on purchasing this model since a number of early reviews mention this problem. But Singer corrected this issue at the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011 and added a blue swirl graphic to the front of the machine. So if you have the machine with the graphic, you're getting the newer version and won't have this issue.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program PROS -Automatic thread tension, thread cutting, stitch lock-down. Has lots of stitch patterns including decorative and alphabets, many accessories and presser feet included, foot-pedal not required (good for disabled), no lubrication needed.
CONS -No automatic bobbin winding or threading. Numerous letters and decorative stitches may be bloatware, depending on your sewing needs; confusing stitch terminology in the manual. There is no memory to save sequences of character/decorative stitches which you define. Requires 15J bobbins (not common). No stippling stitch (for quilting).
[ETA: comments from a Singer repair tech about WHAT NOT TO DO added, see the very end of this review. -10/3/2011 ]
This is a versatile machine, with cleverly designed utility stitches, and numerous decorative stitches (a little over 100 are designs, the rest are alphabets). It has many more capabilities and automated tasks compared to my 40 year old zigzag machine. In use, this machine is much smoother and quieter than my old one. It took me 18 minutes to hook up everything and wind a bobbin and thread the machine for the first time, slowly following the instructions in the manual, much faster subsequently. I was expecting it to be annoying to select stitches on the LCD screen, but t was actually very easy (though I keep forgetting to check which presser foot the LCD says to use for the selected stitch). The decorative stitches don't always turn out quite the same as their icon, so test them first, but they are fun. I had no tension problems -it was sure nice to skip the pre-sew step of tensioning test seams. The reverse button is much easier than manually turning a mechanical lever on my old machine, and having a tack button is nice also. [NOTE: now that the 9970 is available, you may want to consider that instead, because it seems to be the same basic machine but with even more accessories. -ETA 29 Dec 2013]
Overall I am finding this an easy and inviting machine to use, and it makes me realize that I should have gotten a new one long ago. Three features make the biggest difference to me with regular use:
automatic thread tension
automatic lock-down of stitches at the beginning and end of a line of straight stitching (stitches #3 or #4)
automatic thread cutting (press a button, and the top thread is pulled to the bottom, and then both threads are cut)
Together, these three features really speed up sewing tasks. Unless I need a feature only available on some other machine, this is the one I use. But there are so many significant features to describe for this machine, that for those interested, I go into more detail below.
[ETA 6/21/12] The one thing that Singer left out of this product is a manual that tells you how to do interesting things with the presser feet and advanced capabilities which it provides. So if you get this (or a similar advanced sewing machine), you may want to consider these books:
The Sewing Machine Accessory Bible: Get the Most Out of Your Machine---From Using Basic Feet to Mastering Specialty Feet which explains each of the presser feet (plus a few more not included) and shows you ways of using them -this is the "missing manual" that should have been included with the machine.
Encyclopedia of Sewing Machine Techniques which shows you how to do some fabulously artistic decorative sewing techniques using the special presser feet and stitches of this machine.
I first got each of these books from the library, but then decided I needed to purchase them. If you are a new sewer, you may also want to read a good sewing manual that covers all the basic and advanced utility sewing techniques.
p.s. It fits just fine into the Singer Universal Sewing Machine Case, including the extra-large table (mine did not include a case).
p.p.s. There are some more useful instructions on the SingerCo website:
There is a page with links to more detailed instruction pdfs and videos for the various presser feet.
The instruction manual page has a "workbook" for the similar 9940, which is useful for going beyond the instruction manual and learning more about how to use the various tools and settings that come with this sewing machine. If you want model-specific instructions for techniques in the two books I mention above, look here.
DETAILS (for those who want to know the specific attributes of the machine, otherwise stop reading here).
Jump to the bottom of the review to read what the Singer repair Tech said. [The pdf manual is available at the singerco website, so I will reference page numbers below; also questions and answers are available at .]
There are two kinds of stitch families on this machine: A) traditional continuous stitch patterns, and B) single-use character/design stitches which you use to compose "phrases". When you select a stitch, the LCD will tell you which foot works with that stitch, and gives you relevant options such as stitch width -some stitches can be elongated, reversed, or mirror flipped. Each group of stitches is used differently:
A) Continuous Stitch Patterns (p. 20): For this type of stitch, you pick one and then sew with it, and that stitch is sewn over and over. There are 20 workhorse utility stitches which you use for most standard sewing tasks, including things such as blind hemming, overcasting, elastic application, quilting, button sewing, etc., most of which are subtle variations of the basic straight or zigzag stitch for specialized purposes. Then there are another 96 decorative stitch patterns (some of which may be useful for things like applique, etc.). And then there are 16 buttonhole stitches which map out a specific route for the stitching path (including an eyelet). Some of these stitches are quite clever, such as #7 which is better than zigzag for stretchy fabric, or #8 which produces a running stitch that looks like a run of disconnected dashes (to mimic hand-sewn). There are some stitches to help with sewing productivity, such as stitch options to automatically go into reverse tack-down at the beginning and end of a seam, or a darning grid stitch (p. 38). Most of these stitches can be used with twin needles (p.43). Although it is not an embroidery machine for producing large images, you can do free-hand embroidery (p. 42).
B) Character Stitch Patterns (p. 49): These are single-use stitches, which you string together on the LCD display into whatever sequences you want, to make words or phrases or designs up to 60 characters in length, like you would type on a keyboard. This sequence ends up being a pattern which you have designed. These include 34 designs and little pictures, four Roman alphabets (upper and lower case including accented characters, in san-serif, slanted sans-serif, script, and outline with serifs), and one Russian alphabet (sans serif). The letters don't always turn out as nicely as you might like, so test them (e.g. no descenders in lower case letters). Once you specify a sequence of these characters, the sequence can be sewn multiple times. However this machine has no memory, so that you lose the sequence when you turn it off.
Some of the nice features include:
-Use of the included foot pedal is not required, because there are push-button options for many operations: start/stop, reverse, speed control slider, needle up/down, thread cutter (p. 10-11). Someone with a foot disability can still use this machine to sew.
-Also 8 of the most useful utility stitches have their own push-buttons, so you can skip more tedious stitch specification with the LCD and cursors.
-There are stitches with things like built-in bar tacks, reverse tack-down at the beginning and end of a seam, darning grid, operations which I would have to do manually by means of stitch width manipulations and/or forward/reverse with my old machine.
-Presser feet are easy to change, they drop off when a lever is touched, and attach by pressing the shaft down (no screws involved)
-You can pull out part of the table to make it a free-arm machine, or replace it with a larger table for a larger work surface.
-There is a little manual threader jig which hooks and pulls the thread through the needle.
-The bobbin cover is clear, so you can see what is happening down there.
-Supposedly you can sew leather with appropriate needles.
-No lubrication is required !!!! (p. 50).
What impresses me with this machine are the number of design improvements and automated tasks, compared to my 40 year old machine, which I had recently decided to upgrade. However, I don't know how this model compares to other modern machines.
Many accessories come with this machine (p. 6), including many different presser feet. So you will not need to go out right away and buy extra specialized accessories in order to perform specialized sewing tasks (listed on p. 3).
Drawbacks to this machine and/or its documentation, which may or may not be important to you:
-There is no automatic bobbin winding, and I don't consider the manual threader jig to be "automatic threading".
-There is no memory to save sequences of decorative character stitch patterns. I can imagine putting together some sequences that I'd like to use over and over (say, a name tag, or a label for a product I'm making). But alas, if you turn off the machine, the sequence you specified is gone.
-I would like to use some of the more decorative continuous stitches along with the character stitch patterns to compose designs, but I cannot see how to uses stitches from both group together in one sequence.
-The manual doesn't have consistently distinct terminology for the two different sets of stitches (which I call continuous and character stitch patterns), so it took me a while to understand how the basic functions and use of these two sets differ. It uses pattern, stitch, decorative for both families of stitches. However, the buttons make it clear, one button is the utility stitch button (continuous stitches), the other is the ABC button (character stitches which can forms strings up to 60 in length).
-Not surprisingly, the non-script letters are connected by a thread line along the bottom of the word.
-Lower case letters with descenders (such as p and g) are bumped up so that the descenders don't go actually below the line, which is not as nice looking.
-If you don't need all those decorative stitches and just want to do some basic utility sewing, a simpler machine may be a better choice. However, I find that these extra stitches are giving me ideas of things to make that I wouldn't have thought of earlier.
-If you use the wrong bobbins, it can jam. It requires 15J bobbins, a model which are hard to track down. Some listings on Amazon say they are selling the 15J bobbins, but the photo is clearly the wrong bobbin, so I was reluctant to order online. I ended up ordering directly from Singer just to make sure I was getting the right kind.
-Some other sewing machines have a stippling stitch pattern (for quilting), but this does not.
It is nice that the manual pdf is available at singerco, but it would be nicer if it were hyperlinked. Also it would be nice if there were a summary chart of which foot to use with which stitch to accomplish which task (right now that information is embedded in the manual text, and I keep forgetting to check the LCD.) The reason I think this is important is that there were warnings of problems if the wrong combinations were used, e.g. with overcasting (p. 29).
ETA 10/3/2011: What the Singer Repair Tech Said:
I live near a Singer authorized warranty center, and was there for some supplies. I ended up talking with their repair tech about this model. He said in their experience, this model has had problems with:
The timing of the hook mechanism gets out of adjustment (this pulls the upper thread around the bobbin).
Sometimes the mechanism that pulls up the thread above the needle gets out of whack, and because it is inside the case with no access, the user cannot reach in and fix it. ==>> Therefore, he recommended always using the needle up/down button to raise and lower the needle just right (rather than manually using the hand wheel on the right hand side of the machine).
Sometimes the machine gets stuck in bobbin winding mode even though you move the bobbin shaft back to regular position.
I haven't run into any of these problems (yet....).
While there, he showed me a $150 model that he said was the same basic machine on the inside without all the bells and whistles. However, I think that with just the included accessories including 13 presser feet and larger table, this machine can be a good value, depending on what price you find it selling for. [Now it seems to include even more presser feet and a case, which makes it an even better value.]
Honest reviews on SINGER Quantum Stylist Computerized Sewing Machine
I LOVED this machine when it first arrived around August 4, 2012. Then after almost 3 months (Oct 30, 2012) thae machine stopped working. I trouble shot their web-site and was told to take to an Authorized Singer Repair Shop (40 miles away). After the repair shop checked out the machine I was told that the Mother Board had gone and they contacted Singer for a replacement part and was told that it would take 8 to 12 weeks to get it.
I do Crafts for a living. My 1st Fair of this Season was in 4 days and I have no machine and I was supposed to wait 8 to 12 weeks to get the part? So I e-mailed Singers Customer Service and it has been 2 weeks and NO response. I also tried calling them but waited for over an hour and nobody picked up. I feel singer is not what it used to be and I am very dissappointed. I will NEVER purchase a Singer again!!! Buyer beware.
But the silver lining is I contacted Amazon where this was purchased and due to the fact that Singer could not get the part to me in a timely manner Amazon shipped me a NEW machine free of charge!!!! KUDOS to AMAZON!!!! I will do business with this Company any day.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for SINGER Quantum Stylist Computerized Sewing Machine
I've been sewing on the Quantum Stylist for about 10 days now. I purchased the machine mainly for quilt piecing and free motion quilting. I have a Viking Designer SE that I use for regular sewing and embroidery. I knew the Singer wasn't going to come close to the Viking in many areas BUT for the price of $330 this machine has pleasantly surprised me. It sews very smoothly and straight. It has a nice sound when sewing, not whiny or clunky at all. It stops on a dime, exactly where you want it to. I've stitched out all the stitches and all the buttonholes, all are great. I don't care for the alphabets, they aren't that pretty but would be good for making quilt back labels and the like. I love the slide on table that came with the machine, nice to have if I take the machine to classes. I will use the machine in a table with an insert when at home.
I test sewed a variety of fabrics such as fleece, lightweight wool, cotton knit, stretch velvet and even silk, the Stylist sewed them all well. I did change to the proper size needle and threads for the different fabrics before testing though. I think this is where a lot of people get into trouble with their machines not using the proper needles/thread to match the fabric being sewn on. You generally will not get good results by using a cotton thread on thick poly fleece with a size 10 needle and 2.0 stitch length! Many will blame the machine for the poor stitches when it is just the thread/needle/stitch combo that is all that is wrong.
I like that you can move the needle left or right in tiny increments to get the seam just where it needs to be. Threading and bobbin winding are easy, the threader is just OK as it isn't as precise as some I've used, it does work but you have to work at it to make it work! The thread cutter was a very important feature for me, I have gotten so used to the one on my Viking that I cannot do without now. I thought a machine at this price to have a cutter was incredible! As a couple of other reviewers have mentioned, the cutter can be a bit off and not cut well every time it's used. I've noticed this happens most often if the needle is to the right of center such as when I have it 1/4 inch from the side of the foot for piecing quilt blocks. It will cut the top thread but not the bottom. When the needle is moved back to center or more to the left positions the cutter cuts both threads. I think maybe all it needs is a slight adjustment. However, when you purchase a sewing machine online versus at an in person dealer, there is no one to service these kinds of issues, unless of course you have a Singer authorized service center nearby, the closest to me is a 2 1/2 hr drive.
Someone previous mentioned the 'value added' feet package and the hard shell case that came with the machine but were not mentioned what a nice surprise! Last, this is a big machine with a nice substantial feel, not dinky and lightweight like some similar priced machines I've tried. The only thing lacking with the Stylist is a knee lever presser foot lifter, I would have gladly paid more money for that one feature! Overall I am very happy with this machine and would recommend it to anyone.
