You can’t lower the feed dogs for free-motion quilting. Basic sewing machines normally come with a “darning plate” instead which covers the feed dogs. But this machine makes you buy it separately, so that’s another expense. I do think a complete beginner would struggle the first time, but with the manual and a few practice attempts, I think you’ll be fine. The flat bed attachment is described as a storage compartment in the instructions, but as there is no ‘compartment’ so to speak you will need to put the accessories in another bag inside the compartment to avoid them spilling out when you open it.

The machine has a small harp space (the central gap) so isn’t great for larger projects such as quilts or bulky clothing, but fine for alterations, making lighter weight garments and small-medium sized homewares. You can’t disable the dog teeth, which means you couldn’t free motion quilt on this machine. It’s very small compared to other machines. You can fit all the accessories the machine came with though. I couldn’t sew perfectly straight with the standard foot, so many of my blind hem stitches didn’t catch the hem! If you’re going to use this stitch, I highly recommend buying the blind hem foot too. Or get a different machine that includes it (here are my recommendations). Buttonholes Needle threading is done manually with the Brother LS14 as there is no built-in needle threader. Freehand Stitching There is a hole for an additional spool holder but no extra spool holder is included. It’s rare that you would need two spools at the same time though, this would only be useful if you wanted to use a twin needle.

It sewed the denim hem OK, but there were a few issues. It struggled to feed the fabric when going over the seam allowance humps. It did manage it, but the stitches got smaller. Expect the stitch length to become small and uneven over the humps. To be fair, all the beginner machines I tested did this too. As long as your thread matches the fabric, you won’t be able to tell. Inconsistent stitch length

The included screwdriver is a flat metal piece, so is more slippery than a standard mini screwdriver. It kept slipping out of my (completely dry) hands. This would be even harder for anyone with arthritis or other hand mobility issues. I measured how loud the Ls14s was at slow, medium, and high speeds. I used the Sound Level Meter (Android) app. For comparison, I also measured how noisy my personal machine was, the computerized Brother a150. Speed

How much is the Brother LS14s sewing machine?

The Ls14s also struggled to sew perfectly straight, even when I drew straight lines on the fabric. The foot doesn’t grip the fabric enough when you’re sewing multiple layers, so it does wander slightly to the left or right by 1/8″ (3mm). You can’t adjust the foot pressure to improve this. If you don’t care about sewing really precisely, then it’s not a big deal. Sewing all the stitches on 2 layers of cotton was fine. I didn’t have any problems, and I think the stitches look good. But if you only sew occasionally, it will probably be a long time before your machine wears out. I wouldn’t worry about it then. The first time I sewed buttonholes, the left and right bars were uneven. Brother obviously knows about this because they designed a “buttonhole screw” to fix it. It’s a bit of work the first time, but then you don’t need to do it again.