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Home - How-To's - Reviews - Links - Contact - About UsText, photos and video by Tom Hintz
Posted –
7-3-2018
Many within the sewing world have a surprisingly wide project range. Home sewing machines can encounter anything from heavy outdoor-type fabrics to ultra-lightweight silks and literally everything between. The Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine was designed with a range of features and capabilities to handle those jobs and more. An extensive list of authentic Brother accessories applied by the enhanced power and durability of the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine extends the capabilities of this machine without expanding your sewing machine inventory. That makes the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine an even better value.
The Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine has a footprint of 12.21-inches tall by 16.10-inches wide and 7.87-inches front-to-back. The overall weight is a surprisingly light 14.3-lbs, something that surprised me after using this machine for a while because of the noticeable lack of vibrations throughout the speed range. That suggests a tough, metal frame and a bunch of moving parts that have been precisely designed, manufactured and well-balanced.
The work surface of the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine has a wide metal needle plate that lets fabrics slide over it smoothly, something that translates into straighter stitch lines. The plate has engraved seam sizes allowing you to be more accurate “on the run” and spending less time with setup.
Though exceptionally smooth-running, the motor in the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine seems to be noticeably stronger, best evidenced in how it breezes through multi-layer seams and other tasks that normally try to stall a sewing machine motor. Add to that the ability to use both normal and heavy-duty needles and working with tough fabrics or multiple layers falls well within the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine wheelhouse.
The Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine has 37 utility stitches with many that can be used as functional decorative accents when the mood strikes us. The instruction manual has a chart that identifies the stitches and provides recommended settings to get you started. There is a graphical depiction of these stitches on the front of the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine, along with the corresponding number used to select each of them with the hand-wheel on the side of the machine. The Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine makes those stitches with a higher level of precision and sharpness than I expected from an essentially “standard” sewing machine, if there truly is such a thing anymore.
Brother has obviously given the task of threading the needle and bobbin a lot of thought that resulted in a decidedly user-friendly mechanism. The upper thread path is well marked by graphics printed on the case at logical points. Between those graphics and the instruction manual this is an easy system to master.
The needle threading system is easy to use once you do it a time or two. Of all the needle threading ideas, Brother’s line of machines seems to be leading the pack. This is the kind of thing that is very difficult to show in video without getting my hands in the way, but you get the idea. Do it a couple times and your needle-threading life will be forever better.
The lay down bobbin is also a prime frustration preventer. Here again, Brother leads the way with a very simple and trouble-free system. Those two aren’t found together in one sewing machine very often.
Installing a loaded bobbin is literally a drop-in deal. The thread must come off the bobbin in a counterclockwise direction. Put a finger on the bobbin so it can’t turn easily and pull the thread into the plates that provide the bobbin thread tension then pull the thread around the track and it is automatically cut off at the right length. Put the bobbin cover back on and the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine is ready to go. Way less parts to deal with and no fishing the bobbin thread up through the surface plate. Like I said, simple.
Even the dials on top of the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine are a bit different for good reason. Where most other sewing machines I have used have controls that turn freely, the Tension, Stitch Width and Stitch Length dials all employ a fine detent system that makes it all but impossible to move them by accident. The dials are not difficult to turn, they just let you know that you are turning them and resist moving when bumped or brushed accidentally. This is a simple thing but one that can prevent getting a little more familiar with your seam ripper.
The list of included pieces is also down to earth. Rather than trying to dazzle us with a pile of shiny but largely useless chrome presser feet Brother packs a group of useful pieces that are useful in more projects. We get pressure feet for buttonholes, button sewing, spring action zigzag foot, along with zipper, non-stick, and blind stitch pressure feet. Also included are an auxiliary spool pin, 3-piece needle set (#11, #14, #16), twin needle, bobbins (4), foot controller, power cord, operation manual, and an instructional DVD.
The Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine has a single built-in buttonhole routine that with the included buttonhole foot makes a simple but effective buttonhole. Unlike most simple buttonhole systems, the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine version lets us fine-tune how the buttonhole is sewn to meet our liking. The instruction manual goes over this procedure in depth and taking the time to get familiar with this buttonhole system is well worth the effort.
In a world where idiotic verbiage called “translations” serve as instructions the booklet included with the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine (Spanish and English) is well written, organized and effectively illustrated. Instruction manuals should help walk you through procedures and adjustments to get the most from a tool or machine and the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine version does all that and more. Kudos to Brother for investing in a very good instruction manual that makes their machines easier to use. The other manufacturers and their semi-literate instruction writers need to give this manual a long look.
The enclosed DVD is decidedly low-tech and general in scope, as are most such offerings from manufacturers these days. This one does provide some insights on how Brother designers tweaked otherwise common features to bring them up to Brother standards of function and ease of use. This DVD is worth taking the time to view in its entirety and then be put away someplace where you can find it later.
I am becoming familiar with Brother’s design strategy that keeps the appearance of machines like the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine subdued. The design folks at Brother seem far more interested in function than in glitz. The Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine does have simulated basket weave carbon panels across the front that will have to suffice for bling. The controls are simple but touches like the ratchet feature of the three main adjustment dials shows that the folks on the Brother design team know a great deal about using a sewing machine along with the potential frustrations.
From the first time I plugged the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine in and stepped on the pedal I was impressed at how smoothly it runs. Certainly, balancing has been done precisely but I suspect that the mechanisms within the machine have also been designed to run more smoothly and thereby reduce the wear and tear a less refined machine might experience. Manufacturers simply do not back a machine with a 25-year limited warranty like the one covering the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine if they are not confident in its long-term reliability in the real world of the end user.
Getting a machine that has so much reciprocating mass to have such a low level of vibration is remarkable. Getting such a machine to be absolutely vibration proof is impossible, to non-aliens anyway. My flimsy work table can get into a sizable up and down flex when I hit the right speed with the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine but that is all table and virtually no fault of the machine on it. I put the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine on a more substantial surface and it was not able to flex that at any speed.
Much of my sewing work involves three-layer fabric sandwiches and that stack gets doubled and even tripled at times when assembling the project. The Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine cruises right through such “difficult” parts of my sewing jobs, demonstrating the strength of the motor and the solidly-built mechanics that keep the needle on a straight and true track. A mechanism designed to handle that kind of work load will last a long time with minimal maintenance on the operator’s part.
I have a good amount of time on the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine and it has yet to do anything unexpected. Such a reliable machine produces Reviews that lack the excitement of failures or unexpected results. The Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine does produce consistent, quality work with an accuracy that makes the stitch patterns look better than with other machines I have tried. It is nice to have a sewing machine that I can pull out, use without issue and put away sooner than I would have with other machines that need more coaxing to get through a task.
The Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine is a well-made, thoughtfully equipped sewing machine with the toughness to handle virtually anything the home sewing world is going to throw at it. It doesn’t have a couple hundred useless stitch patterns but does have 37 stitches we are more likely to use.
The Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine is easy to use, dependable and accurate. The designers did a good job of making the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine easy to understand which virtually eliminates the “getting used to” period and lets us go right to work with confidence.
If you are looking for a solid, capable sewing machine take a hard look at the Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine. This machine has a surprisingly low street price of just $199.99 (5-17-2018) which makes getting one for your use as painless as learning to use it.
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