Brother PC-420 PRW Limited Edition Project Runway Sewing Machine

Comment: I did my research for buying a new sewing machine over several years....When my old Necchi showed signs of imminent demise I chose the Brother PC-420 PRW as having the features I wanted most for the amount of money I had to spend.

This machine does not disappoint!! I love the self-threading feature and the top-and-bottom auto thread cutting. After a little time spent with the exceptionally thorough manual I was able to try different stitches--my first project just happened to include free-motion quilting with nylon thread and I had no problems at all.

I have two minor complaints....the monogram feature produces such small letters as to be useless for anything other than hankerchiefs, which saddened me. And the machine does not have enough interior light for my aging eyes.

Looking forward to trying out more stitches and feet, I quickly realized that this machine had all of the features of older, mechanical machines but with about a hundred times more ease and accuracy--PLUS the features I mentioned above! I prefer using the foot pedal, but I have options to use the knee control or even the button on the machine itself....which opens up a lot of possibilities I never had on my older machines!

Comment: My 5-star rating is not for the machine, rather Amazon's amazing customer service in its return. I received PC-420 PRW just a few days after I had ordered it from Amazon (I selected them from a list of sellers). Amazon's original shipment was estimated at 3 to 5 weeks. Pretty great delivery considering I also received free shipment. When it arrived, the box was in great shape with no obvious signs of distress. But...upon opening it, it looked like someone had tried to take the machine out of it's tight packing and broke it's handle. Then they tidied things up a bit but forgot to put the manual back in, so placed it haphazardly back on top of everything before resealing the box. Rather than find out what else had been tampered with I resealed and requested a return from Amazon. Less than 18 hours later, UPS was at my door ready to pick up for return to Amazon. This is amazing stuff for 2010!! I buy a relatively expensive machine with no haggle at a steep discount, get free shipping, am unhappy with the product when it arrives, request a refund with no haggle and get it picked back up at my door less than 18 hours later. Whatever you do, look for whatever you want to buy from AMAZON first! It may arrive in unexpected condition but you can purchase without fear or anxiety because Amazon will make it right. Amazon is good business - and that says a lot in present day USA. It's getting harder and harder to spend money these days but when I do, it will only be with companies like Amazon.

Comment: Alright, so it's been awhile since I last used a sewing machine (Probably Home Economics in Middle School). Regardless, I needed a machine and this looked like a pretty good buy. It arrived yesterday and was really easy to unpack. There are only two things that plug into the machine itself so it's really easy to set up. One was the power cable and the other was the foot pad. Next, I decided to thread it, and even that was really simple. The user manual has pictures and detailed explanations so it wasn't hard to figure out. The machine also has pictures molded into the plastic next to relevant sections of the machine so you don't even need the manual after you initially figure out how to thread it. It even has this amazing device that you pull down on to thread the needle. So easy! There are lots of cool little accessories that came with it too. I was really pleased with the set up.

I wasn't too worried about setting it up, but I knew I was going to be extremely rusty at actually using a machine. Turns out I was worried over nothing, because this machine works well when it's going fast or slow. When I first started I was going a little slow and I was worried that I'd get off my line, but fabric guides through this machine so effortlessly. After half an hour, I had the foot pedal pushed all the way down and was cruising through my project. I finished my project in about four hours with no hiccups. (It was a really big project too!) I'd recommend this machine to beginners, anyone who is rusty, and even people with a lot of experience. This machine can be really fast and it has so many different types of stitches you can do! Also, it's Project Runway. Who doesn't love Project Runway?

Comment: Even though this was not the same model that I had been trying to find, it has performed flawlessly, and has the features we wanted (and more). It arrived on schedule in perfect condition. I could recommend it to anyone needing an easy to use machine.

Comment: I found this to be a wonderful machine, a miracle, and I was in love with it for the first few hours. When it hopelessly locked, with no thread jam to explain it, I was quite upset. The machine was useless and would not sew. The Brother website was difficult to sort out, but it offered only the advice to check for a thread jam and, if that didn't work, take it in for service. The nearest service facility was one hour's drive from my home and this was a brand new machine! I emailed Brother and 4 days later received a response with the same advice.
I called Amazon customer service. Within 2 minutes a new, replacement machine was on the way and a UPS mailing label for return was ticking out of my printer! The new machine arrived in 2 days!
I beleive the first machine I received was defective...which can happen to the best of items from the best of companies. No problem. When it worked, this was the best sewing machine I've ever used. I gave it 4 stars rather then 5 only for the frustrating customer service at Brother.
The lesson here is: always buy at Amazon! Great response...great service!