This is going to be a crazy long post with a lot of pictures. You’ve been warned!!
I’ve wanted to do a review about my new machine since right after I got it, but I also wanted to give a knowledgeable review instead of saying, “I’ve been LOVING my machine since I got it two days ago!!!!” So I told myself to give it a year and we made it! I’ve been using my new machine for over a year now, so I feel adequately prepared to share some of the things I’ve been loving about it, along with some of the things I think could be improved upon.
Why a new machine?
I got my first and only other sewing machine in 2012 as a gift when I graduated from college. It is a used Bernina 1010. It is an awesome machine. When I started getting more serious about sewing in 2019, I’d get the occasional question from my mom or my husband about whether I ever thought about getting a new machine and my answer was always no. My machine did everything I needed it to do. But early in 2023, I started feeling like I needed a new machine and the biggest reason was that I no longer felt like my skills were the thing holding my sewing back; my sewing machine was. As great as my Bernina 1010 is, it is still a mechanical machine that is over 30 years old.
My hope with a new machine was that I could have more consistency and reliability. And my B475 has absolutely delivered. I no longer have to deal with issues like wobbly seams, unreliable tension or irregular buttonholes. And then on top of that it has a whole bunch of amazing features that have helped me level up my sewing game and create some really awesome stuff. I’m really grateful for my new machine.
Resources that were helpful to me while researching new machines
Deciding on a new machine is no easy task. I did a lot of research. When I started my search, I wasn’t set on getting any particular brand, though I did have some preferred brands in mind. Here are some resources that I found to be particularly helpful in the process:
Dan and Marty’s Sewing Machine Review for 2025. This review is updated every year with the best machines on the market, helpfully divided by price tiers. It’s created by two guys who’ve been in the business of selling and repairing sewing machines for decades. They know what they are talking about!
Sewing with Cody and Pete: Which Bernina is Right for me? After narrowing down my options to another Bernina, this video provided clarity on the differing features of Berninas 325 through 535. It has a part 2 for Bernina machines above the 535 (which I didn’t watch because it was out of my price range).
Heirloom Creations YouTube. I found this channel while I was still in the deciding stage. They have dozens of videos featuring the Bernina B480 (which is very similar to the B475) that helped me understand the various functions. I’m glad to still have that resource available to me, if I ever need help with my machine.
My local quilt shop. I am so grateful for my local quilting shop! They were invaluable to me through this whole process. They had a variety of brands available to try at many price points. I got to sit down and test the machines out. I honestly don’t know how anyone could pick a machine without actually trying it out! If you are looking for a machine, I strongly recommend a trip to a sewing machine shop so you can test out different machines. This helped me a ton in narrowing down the machine I wanted. The people at my shop didn’t rush me at all, they answered so many questions, and they were able to give the most reliable information on pricing.
My machine:
You’ll know it from the title of this post, but the machine I got is this gorgeous Bernina B475 QE (Quilter’s Edition) and mine is specifically the Kaffe Edition, which is why it has the fun colors. It also has some additional decorative stitches. It was a floor model, so it had a little bit of mileage on it when I got it.
These babies track your stitch count, so when I bought the machine, the stitch count came in at about 77,000. Today (the lower image) the stitch count is closing in on 800,000 which means I’ve sewn over 700,000 stitches on this machine.
Things I love about the Bernina B475
Having used a mechanical machine for more than a decade, some of my favorite things are pretty darn basic for a computerized machine. But I love:
How user friendly the machine is. To be clear, I do not consider this to be a beginner machine. It’s not, in my opinion, very intuitive. BUT, if you are willing to take things slow and do some reading/research/experimenting, the machine can feel pretty user friendly. One feature that I like, is that little question mark up there. If you press it and then press one of the stitch buttons, it will tell you what the stitch is called, what it’s used for and what presser foot is best to use with it.
Another example of how user friendly it is, is that it will give me prompts telling me when it’s time to clean the thread catcher or oil the bobbin. It walks me through the steps (sometimes even has GIF-like illustrations). And I can select to do the task later, which is handy if you don’t like machines telling you how to live your life.
And I’m going to really show my true colors here, but the user manual is excellent.
I almost never have to crank the handwheel. Cranking the handwheel is a major and critical part of using a mechanical machine but virtually never comes up when using a computerized machine. How revolutionary (har har)! But it streamlines the process in a pretty serious way and I am so grateful for it. As you’ve probably gathered, I don’t know how other brands function, but my machine can be set to have the needle land in the up position or the down position when you bring your foot off the pedal. I like having mine up, but I can put it back into down position with the press of a button.
The automatic thread cutter. So convenient. It leaves a small (centimeter-long) tail that has to be trimmed (though mine is usually trimmed courtesy my serger).
The machine will secure my stitches when I start sewing. You can set your machine to secure stitches at the beginning of a new seam if you want. I often forget it’s on when I go to make a gathering stitch, so I usually have to unpick it and try again. But it’s the same-press button: feature on, press button: feature off. Simple.
Eco (/sleep) mode. {You can’t tell but the image on the screen says “eco”}. Since I’ve been sewing since my babies were, well babies, I’ve always had a fear that a child will come over and either mess with my machine or accidentally sew their fingers or some other terrible thing. With my old machine, if I stepped away from the machine (even if just for a second to my ironing board), I’d switch the power knob to off and then turn it back to on when I got back to the machine. This machine takes longer to boot up so turning it completely off isn’t an option. Thankfully it has an Eco-or sleep-Mode. It requires pressing two buttons to wake the machine back up and, so far, my youngest hasn’t figured out how to turn it back on again (glad to say I no longer have to worry about my older two messing with my machines).When I pause to iron, use the bathroom, or step away from sewing with intentions to return to it later in the day, I put it in Eco mode so my 3 year old doesn’t turn into a mosquito being drawn to the light while I’m away.
The buttonholes!!! The buttonhole function on this machine is a DREAM! I love it! My old machine had a 6 setting buttonhole knob that had to be cranked around to each setting to sew a complete buttonhole. It was tedious and I could measure and mark, but my buttonholes still always managed to be at least a little bit (or a lot!) off. But the B475 has several buttonhole options, including a bound buttonhole and a stretch buttonhole. And every buttonhole I make is the exact same as the last one I made. It’s beautiful.
You can enter the button’s dimensions but if you don’t know the dimensions, you can hold your button up to the screen. By turning a knob, you can align the yellow circle up or down to determine the size of your button (I used a clear button in the above picture, which is why it looks a little funky). The machine will automatically add 2mm to your buttonhole, to make sure the button fits easily but securely through the hole. I mean, technology! Seriously, such a great feature and a relief after all the steps required from my last machine (I will say that my buttonhole function on my last machine was broken for a little while and I had to seriously consider doing a buttonhole by hand. That made me grateful for even the 6 setting knob! ).
The variety of practical stitches. This machine comes with some really great stitches in addition to your basic straight and zigzag stitches. Some of my favorite:
The stretch stitch. The machine has a handful of options for stretch stitches. The one I typically use is called “super stretch stitch no. 11.” It looks like a very tiny lightning bolt but give your fabric the ability to stretch without snapping threads. I use it with any stretch fabric, especially along seams that are prone to being stretched (think neckband, the seam where sleeves are set, etc.). I adjust my pressure foot pressure to make sure there’s no waviness.
The reinforced stitch. This stitch is called “triple straight stitch no. 6.” And it does sew back and forth so that every stitch is stitched three times. So, yes, it’s awesome. I used it any time I want a really strong seam-so think upholstery, giant plushies, or crotch/seat seams on my pants!
The mending stitch. This is a stitch that I discovered very recently, but I used it to mend 5 pairs of my girls’ leggings in less than 10 minutes (the most time consuming part was changing thread to match the pants). The stitch will make a small patch, about a centimeter wide. You can select the length of the patch with the reverse button. So easy to use and so effective.
Things that are great but not my favorite
The Decorative Stitches. I was excited about the option of decorative stitches but truth be told, I don’t use them all that often. I’ve used them a couple times on projects for my kids, but otherwise they’re mostly just fun to play around with. My machine has a 5.5mm stitch plate (which is standard) but the machine a step up from mine (the B480) has a 9mm stitch plate so if this feature is very important to you, I’d consider getting that machine instead. That said, if decorative stitches are that important, you may just want to consider an embroidery/embroidery capable machine instead. Anyway, for me, I’m glad I have the option…but also I could probably live just fine without it!
The jumbo bobbin. This seems to be a big selling point with Bernina’s machines and I was excited to make the swap. I will say that I like and am grateful for the big bobbin now, but it took some time to learn how to wind the bobbin to get the most out of the “jumbo” size. I also had a mild hiccup with the bobbin: Bernina machines have to oiled pretty regularly-to my understanding every time the bobbin runs out-which I make sure to do. About a month in, my machine gave me the prompt that it was time to oil. So I set about to oil it which involves removing the bobbin and oiling the bobbin case. I was able to see that my bobbin still had at least a third of its thread left. I thought, “What’s the point in having a big bobbin if I still have to go through the hassle of taking it out before it has even run out?!” Thankfully, that was a one time occurrence! I’ve maintained oiling when I change the bobbin and it’s given me no more prompts (it might’ve just not been oiled enough before it was in my care).
Things I don’t like
There’s no alert for if your bobbin runs out. Almost every review I read about this machine mentions the fact that at this price point, there ought to be an alert when your bobbin runs out, and I am inclined to agree.
It takes a long time to turn on/boot up. Obviously this is a 21st century problem that’s not really a problem, but my machine takes a solid 20 seconds after I flip the switch before showing any signs of life. It’s always just long enough for me to worry it’s broken and then a half second later it’ll start to flicker awake.
A glitch. My machine has a strange glitch on occasion when I press the automatic thread cutter button. It just completely freezes, both the mechanisms and the screen. I just have to turn my machine off and back on and it’ll get back to normal-but I typically have to rethread my needle when this happens. It might be happening because I’m pressing the thread cutter button half a second before my foot is actually off the pedal, but I’m not entirely sure. Thankfully it doesn’t happen very often, though it can be annoying to have to deal with. My mom and sister have the same model of machine and it seems like each has its own unique, mostly-mild glitch that has to be dealt with. Maybe that’s true of most computerized things?
Some features I haven’t tried yet
And of course, there are some features that I haven’t really experimented with. Some due to space, some money and some just because I’m sewing other stuff!
The Quilting Stitches. The B475 is a Quilter’s Edition so it makes sense that it would come with some fun quilting-specific stitches. I haven’t really played around with these much, but there’s a lot to test out!
Sewing with the press of a button (no foot pedal required!). I tested this out and it worked surprisingly well!
The Free Hands System (FHS)/knee lift. With this attachable lever, you can raise/lower your presser foot by tapping the lever with your knee. I’ve heard it’s amazingly handy, but I don’t have the space.
Bernina Stitch Regulator (BSR) capabilities. This is an add on that enables free motion quilting. For some reason I thought it was $200 but it’s actually more like $800 so it’s an easy pass. But still seems really cool!
Final Thoughts
This post took a lot of time to put together and even so, I know I’m going to be posting this and in a week or month I’ll think, “Oh no! I forgot to mention this!” But we’ll just have to let it be.
If you didn’t catch on from the body of the post, let it be known that I really love my machine! It has been AWESOME! The few things I don’t like about it are pretty inconsequential when I contrast it with all the things I love. I absolutely think the machine has helped my improve my sewing skills, plus it’s been a lot of fun to play around with and learn more about it. Of course, my sewing skills and my skills with this machine still have progress to make, but I’m grateful this is the machine I get to share the journey with.
If you have them, I’m happy to answer any questions. Happy sewing!
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