BrotherSkitch Single-Needle Embroidery Machine with Artspira connection, 20.01x11.89x17.95

This is a great little embroidery machine! I have had embroidery machines, home and industrial. I really like that I can use my IPAD for manipulating the designs and uploading to the machine. I love the narrow arm, it makes embroidering on shirts really easy. I bought the 3 x 3 hoop as well. Things to know! Since I am very familiar with embroidering machines from other manufacturers, I had skipped some of the instructions and I assumed some of the Brother terminology was different than what they really meant. Long story short, after a few trials, I just sat down and really read the directions thoroughly. It is all right there and I highly recommend that you start by going slowly through their process the first time around. My husband wanted this machine to do a custom logo that he had digitized, so there was a learning curve and he was not going to accept an OK looking logo. All of the issues were solved by going back through their instructions. The logo on this machine on a sweatshirt looks absolutely great! Some of my mistakes: use their bobbins not the L bobbins also check out the instructions on the self-threading part (lots of good info in that section). Highly recommend using a thread stand. There are specific tops for each thread spool size that need to be used, but it is just simpler and without issue to just get a cheap little thread stand/cone holder instead of using the one on the top of the machine. Also, I wouldn't worry about the monthly fee. Use it if you want or not. The machine is pretty darn inexpensive for what you get and the app is just part of making it have a few more features and a bunch of cute designs to use. Hope that helps!

## UPDATE returned machine, final straw was the needle broke and it dented the top plate where the needle hole is. Bad support experience and the machine is not ready for prime time. Spend your money somewhere else.## ORIGINAL POSTNo expert here but, I will provide my experience unboxing the machine, setting it up and using it. Hopefully I can help someone in the process of buying a embroidery machine.First, Brother is calling this machine an entry level machine and they are not wrong. I would consider this machine more like a toy that allows you to do embroidery. Let's start...POSITIVEPACKAGING:Machine comes packaged very good. I would say this is one of the best protected machines i have seen. Unpacking this machine was easy and very well thought out. It has handles inside the package to pull the machine out without doing much work. Good packaging and easy to unpack.MANUAL:Very good manuals. The operation manuals come in English, French and Spanish (individually). The quick reference guide is the only one with the languages mentioned above + Portuguese in the same guide.MACHINE:This machine has a beautiful dark gray finish. I call this color neutral. Most embroidery machines are white with some soft color that I believe is not neutral. The machine front looks like a coffee machine but it looks so cool. Is not too heavy and it's about the size of a normal sewing machine. The machine comes with a magnetic hoop, free arm for easy setup of tshirts and it is operated by an app (Artspira).SET UP:I used the quick reference guide to set up the machine. I won't lie, it was a breeze. One of the best setups i have done. The guide provides picture but the application you need to use the machine provides instructions as well and also videos on how to do the things they are instructing you to do. I thought the setup was good and easy to follow for any level of users, first timers and pros.USING IT:At times, after setting up my project the machine went south (thread breaks, bobbin out of thread, and so on) the steps to follow can be a bit confusing. You press buttons but nothing happens. For example when i was setting the upper thread, I was following the commands in the reference guide and it was not doing what the guide explained.SOFTWARESome people complained that the machine only works with the app Artspira. To me that was not a big deal. I have a Cricut and it works the same way - everything is controlled via Cricut Design Space. I was at home with the artspira UI to use this machine (I am familiar with this setup). I can understand that some people may not be used to this and that may become difficult to them.The machine connects to the app (Artspira) via bluetooth, you need to have a smart phone or tablet/ipad to use the app. The app was not too hard to use. Not sure if the app went thru UI testing, I noticed some messages talking about an "ACCEPT" button that did not exists. So I just pressed the button title that was closes to "ACCEPT".Ok, i am done with the positive feedback for this machine. Now as the title says it...lets talk about the other items that I believe make this machine a toy.NEGATIVEPACKAGING:The machine provided tools to clean (a brush), replacements needles, 2 white threaded bobbins, 1 black thread, 3 (different size ) caps to hold the thread so that i won't come out and small pair of scissors.The scissors are a JOKE, I know, i know the price of the machine is cheap (Not really, but i will talk about that later) but even if it was cheap, Brother should try to keep the company name on good standing and provide some good scissors that won't fall apart on the first cut. I am serious, this issue with the scissor is small but it tainted the Brother name and reputation for me.MACHINE:Like I said earlier the machine needs the app Artspira to talk to it for projects. Without it, the machine is just a paper weight. To me this is not bad. For other people, this is a deal breaker.Brother calls this a entry level machine and it is priced at $499 - not a bad price..... if the speed was better and the hoop was bigger. I mean come on, I can get me an older model faster (starting at 650 spm) and cheaper. For extra $100-$300 i can get me an older model that has a bigger hoop and a little fast. For extra $300 - $600 i can get me a current model also with bigger hoop and faster speeds. I know, I know not everyone has the extra cash (this is why i bought this machine) but think about it, in the long wrong this purchase has the potential of getting more expensive. 400 spm (stitch per minute) is slow!The machine’s hoop and needle started to “jump” on some more intricate designs from Artspira and some designs of mine created using inkstitch. I noticed this issue more on fonts and where the threads intercept. The machines makes a struggling sound when trying to penetrate the fabric for some designs.. I called brother technical support and although they were nice, they were not helpful in my questions. They provided service shops close to me (1) and 4 others that are from 1 hour to 4 hours away. I called my local service business but they told me they were not familiar with the machine. Thinking of returning it.The hoop is only usable at 3.93 In by 3.93 inches or 100 mm by 100 mm. Small hoop, I mean what is brother trying to say? Is this cool looking machine for children (by the way if you read the manual for Europe it is, NOT FOR THE U.S. page 2 of the operation manual)? So why pay $499 for a tiny hoop and meager speeds? You decide... if you can, better wait to save some money to get a large hoop (5 x 7) and faster speed.SOFTWARE:The quality of the embroidery has a lot to do with how you digitize your designs but I have also seen the machine not doing a CIRCLE when it is just a circle and leaving some empty spots. If you only want to use the designs on the app Artspira then you are good but pray that your WIFI dont stop working. If it does everything on the app will stop working. Also the app has some bugs and it crashes when you are trying to draw (sometimes). App seems to lack UI testing and the subscription is kind of high. I don't buy subscriptions for anything but this one is one subscription that called my attention for the price.FINAL FEEDBACKThis machine could have been awesome and could have brought Brother a lot of new customers trying to learn embroidery. I have watched tons of videos that are not too with this machine and bring some similar points. Brother could have made the hoop 4 X 4 and also have a 5 x 7 (and sale extra hoops - accessories is where the money is made), the speed at least 700 spm. Maybe the hoop size and the speed can be done with a firmware update? include some better scissors, better UI testing for the app and for pete sake lower the subscription price. At this specs, the machine feels like a toy.I feel this project (Stitch PP1) was done in a hurry. Not sure if they had any user inputs before putting this on sale. I was a bit disappointed when I waited about 1 hour for a project of 16261 stitches that their app says it should take me 27 minutes. Actually when i started the project in the app the time changed to 47 minutes plus the time to switch the colors of the project (mine were 3) and thread breakage, bobbin out of thread and restitching pieces of my project because the machine did not stitch them right.I know, I know embroidery is not fast (depends on the machine) but also 1 hour is not going to make me say, let's do more embroidery projects. Overall, if you are ok with a small hoop and meager (SLOW) speeds go for it. If you can wait and save a little more money, get a different model. I would be ok with the specs of the machine if the cost was $299 - $349. Also, they can improve on the customer services to help the users have piece of mind if the technical support team provides answers to questions. My two cents.

The media could not be loaded. I had this up and running in less than a half an hour. I am familiar with other Brother wireless machines but the directions were extremely easy to follow and also have video options to follow along.The first sample turned out well. I’m especially pleased with the magnetic hoop, auto threading needle, and auto cutting thread features. The sample in the photos is with black thread and white bobbin (included) to show the lack of pull through to the front saving side.This is excellent value for the money for any hobbies looking to start a journey into embroidery. There nothing on the market right now that a can compare in this price point. 👌🏻👏🏻 Well done Brother!

I will be returning it.I truly had high hopes for this little machine. There were many features that I looked forward to having and some of them did not disappoint. The magnetic hoop is great. The 4x4 size is ok. I knew what I was getting when I purchased it. I was looking forward to having an embroidery machine with a free arm.By no means did I mind having to use the app to run the machine. I was able to see every step of the embroidery process on a larger screen (ipad) than just a small screen on the embroidery machine.When it stitched a one-color design, it ran beautifully but once I tried designs with more than one or two colors, the machine would misalign the after the thread change. I tried several different designs and it happened each time.I reached out to Brother through the chat feature. They were very nice and did all that they could to assist me but their options seemed to be limited. The person who helped me sent in a requestion to have someone with more knowledge assist me. Once, I did receive an email from them, I needed to schedule a time to talk on the phone. The only problem is that their office hours are the same as mine so that did not work well for me.I am hoping that Brother comes out with another embroidery machine soon that is similar to this one but a little sturdier.