Customer Reviews

Brother(R) VX1435 Mechanical Sewing Machine

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I got this machine a year ago as a beginning sewer. I really loved it and was able to learn and make many things with it. I discovered and confirmed that sewing was going to be my 'thing'. I did not want my husband buying anything too expensive or fancy just in case I ended up not liking to sew.
Its a basic model and I don't need all of the fancy extras anyway. But now a year later, as my sewing confidence is growing and I am moving on to try new things, the machine stopped working right. There is some sort of problem with the thread. Its not the tension, I have tried everything. We have oiled and dusted it, changed thread, bobbins and fabric. The manual is terrible and not very helpful. The machine still runs but after a few stitches, the thread either breaks or comes out.
It may be a simple problem to fix but not something we can figure out. Since my husband got it for so cheap (and even on sale) he decided to get me a new one instead of paying to have this machine repaired.
We got a Husqvarna Emerald for $299. (a basic model) There is no comparison in how it runs its sturdier and even though its a basic model it has many nice extra features and the manual is great.
Having said that, there is no way that one year ago I'd have wanted a $300 machine not knowing if I would like sewing or not.
The Brother worked great and was easy to learn on, I just think it should have lasted longer than a year. 3 Months ago I probably would have given this 5 stars. Thats how happy I was with it until I started having these frustrating problems. (and an added note...a Husqvarna never needs oiling! How about that?)

I bought this machine in January at a B&M store. I didn't do any research because I just wanted a basic machine and had read good reviews for Brother machines. This weekend I finally needed to use it to recover 5 cushions. What should have taken a couple of hours used up a whole weekend causing headaches and much cursing. I had to finish the project so I continued to deal with the bobbin clogging up, thread tangling in the upper mechanism, huge knots on the bottom of my fabric. I finished this morning hand sewing the final two seams. It's too late to take it back; I've learned a lesson here. It's going in the trash with less than 20 hours on it. My hb said to sell it or give it away, how could I do that knowing what a piece of trash it is?

I just returned my Brother VX-1435 after two days of struggling, trying to get it to work. I've done plenty of sewing on other machines, but thought that since I don't use a lot of fancy features, I might as well get a basic machine. What a mistake!

The machine wouldn't even sew a simple, straight-line stitch without skipping a stitch every so often - at least one every few inches, and at least once per seam it just quit sewing stitches at all and left you with two long strings of dangling thread. I tried everything to get it to pick up the bobbin thread - took out the bobbin case (an unnecessarily complicated setup, compared to any other machine I've used), re-threading the top thread, adjusting the tension (there's only one tension knob for both top and bottom) - I even took out the whole bobbin mechanism, following the steps in the manual, to check it. No luck at all.

The instruction booklet says to call the company before taking the machine back to the store. I don't see the point, since they spent more time asking for phone, mailing address, e-mail, and fax (fax?) information than they did telling me to do what it said on the troubleshooting sheet. NO help at all, and the woman on the phone sounded like she'd never heard of this problem. I took it back to the store and spent the extra money to buy a machine from another manufacturer.

I am learning to sew again. This machine is very basic, but not more than I need right now. The instructions that came with the machine are easy to understand. It is very easy to set up and to use.

GORGEOUS MACHINE. KEEPS MY PAPERS FROM BLOWING AROUND. GOT THIS MACHINE SINCE IT IS BASIC, FOR A BEGINNER. THERE IS MISSING PARTS AND THE BOX WAS SEALED. CALLED BROTHERS FOR THE PIECES. THEY WOULD BE GLAD TO SELL AND SEND THEM TO ME FOR A SMALL FEE OF $22.00. HUH?????? THE PRESSER FOOT IS MISSING ALONG WITH THE NEEDLES. SO CAN'T REALLY COMMENT ON EASE (OR NOT)OF USE. SO I AM USING IT FOR A PAPER-WEIGHT TILL I TAKE IT BACK. I GOT THIS MACHINE AT A CLEARANCE PRICE SO BROTHERS OF TENNESEE, WHICH IS THEIR HEAD-QUARTERS, STATED THEY DO NOT HONOR DISCOUNTED PRICES. WHATS WITH THAT??? AFTER READING THE REVIEWS HERE, I WOULD NEVER HAVE GOTTEN IT TO START WITH. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME.

I bought this machine on AMAZON in 2008 - I think it was a refurb. It worked fine for awhile but then it consistently started the stitch skipping problem other reviews mentioned. Now it cannot even make a straight seam with out the thread either breaking on getting all wacked out in the bobbin.
I have cleaned this machine, adjusted the tension, gave it a new needle etc. After spending 3 hours in frustration trying to hem a pair of jeans, I gave up. I called a local sewing machine repair shop and was told, "don't waste your money."

I have since bought a used, older Singer.
Do not buy this machine unless you enjoy fighting with it!

OMG,bought this machine and planed to finish school projects from home,ended up needing to clean up the bobbin case every 5 minutes because threads keep getting caught for no reason.
Don't waste your time and money on this machine...

I can't get the tension to work and I'm in the middle of sewing gifts for mother's day, great. I liked it ok but, now I'm irritated. Look for a better beginner machine unless the deal is SOOOOOO good you can't refuse it. I bought mine for $40 on sale. In retrospect, it was worth it but, now I need a new machine.

What a mistake it was to purchase this machine. Now that I look at the return instructions I see that I have to pay a 10% restocking fee as well as pay the UPS fee both ways (because it was "free delivery"). This machine is so primitive that I can't understand why they even bother manufacturing it.