How to choose a combination sewing and embroidery machine

A combination sewing and embroidery machine does two jobs with one motor and one footprint. The advantage is obvious: the space and budget of one machine instead of two. The price you pay is a different one: it is almost never the best at both jobs, and the right choice depends on which of the two you will use more often.

Our catalog has twelve of them: Baby Lock Aurora, BERNINA 570 QEE, bernette 79, Brother Innov-is F580, Brother Luminaire 3 Innov-ís XP3, Elna eXpressive 860, HUSQVARNA VIKING DESIGNER TOPAZ 40 and TOPAZ 50, Janome Continental M17, Janome Memory Craft 1000, PFAFF creative 4.5 and Singer Smart Heavy Duty 9120. Each listing has its specifications with the source next to them. Here I'll tell you how to read them. For this guide we opened six listings in detail: BERNINA 570 QEE, bernette 79, Brother F580, Brother XP3, Janome Memory Craft 1000 and Singer 9120. You'll find the other six in the «Sewing and embroidery combos» category.

First question: do you sew more or embroider more?

If embroidery is a Sunday extra and the rest of the week you sew clothes, hems and repairs, look at the sewing side as if the embroidery didn't exist. If instead you are buying to personalize garments and accessories, embroidery is the reason for the purchase and sewing is the added convenience. Anyone who embroiders a lot will sooner or later wonder whether they need a dedicated embroidery machine: you'll find them in the single-needle and multi-needle categories of the site. A combo makes sense as long as embroidery is an activity, not a job.

Second question: how much space and weight?

Combo machines are not light, but the difference between models is real. From the six listings we read:

• the Singer Smart Heavy Duty 9120 states 7 kg, the lightest of the group;
• the Brother Innov-is F580 states 9.3 kg;
• the bernette 79 states 9.34 kg, with dimensions of 50.9 × 20 × 31.5 cm;
• the Janome Memory Craft 1000 states 10 kg;
• the BERNINA 570 QEE states 11.2 kg, with dimensions of 45 × 20 × 33 cm.

There are more than four kilos between the lightest and the heaviest. If the machine always stays on the table, weight matters little. If you have to carry it to a class or put it back in the closet every evening, it matters a lot. For the Brother XP3 the weight is missing from the listing: we won't write it until we read it in a source.

Third question: where will you use it?

The detail most often forgotten is the power supply. The BERNINA 570 QEE and the bernette 79 state 100-240 V, so they work on the mains of more countries. The Brother Innov-is F580 states 220-240 V: it is designed for the European mains, and anyone taking it overseas needs to think about that first. For the Janome Memory Craft 1000, Singer 9120 and XP3 the listing does not report the power supply, and we don't make assumptions.

Fourth question: what fabrics do you sew?

Here the listings differ on the stitches they declare. All six machines have straight stitch, blind hem and at least one triple stretch stitch. The differences are in the details:

• BERNINA 570 QEE, bernette 79 and Singer 9120 state the stretch overlock stitch, useful for seaming knits and fabrics that must follow the body;
• Brother F580, Brother XP3 and Singer 9120 state the stretch blind hem;
• the Janome Memory Craft 1000 states neither the stretch overlock nor the stretch blind hem.

That doesn't mean a machine without the stitch can't sew a jersey: it means the manufacturer doesn't list it, and anyone who sews stretch fabrics often should check the full stitch list before deciding.

Who should look at what

If you want the lightest machine and simple embroidery is enough to personalize, start from the Singer Smart Heavy Duty 9120. It has fewer documented values than the others (18 in the listing), so check carefully that what you need is there.

If you want the middle lane, with sewing rich in stretch stitches and universal power supply, the bernette 79 and the BERNINA 570 QEE are the two listings to put side by side. The 570 QEE weighs almost two kilos more but has more documented values (33 against 27).

If your goal is more ambitious embroidery, the Brother Luminaire 3 Innov-ís XP3 is the one we place in the highest usage tier of the six in our catalog. Some data is still missing for it, including the weight, and the listing does not yet have a check against the official source: read it with that limit in mind.

If you prefer a brand with a long embroidery tradition and are in no hurry, open the listings for the Janome Memory Craft 1000, PFAFF creative 4.5 and HUSQVARNA VIKING DESIGNER TOPAZ 40 and 50 and compare them with the ones above.

Prices

In the catalog we don't yet have a list price for these twelve machines, and for that reason we don't write any. The buy button in each listing leads to the shop where the price is shown up to date. Don't trust figures quoted in a guide: they change faster than any text.

How to use the listings

Open two or three models and look at three things in order: weight and power supply, declared stitches, source of the data. If a piece of data you need is missing, look for the official page before buying: the listings show the manufacturer's address for exactly this reason. Our listings are built on the data declared by the manufacturers, not on hands-on tests.