Brother VR Embroidery Machine – makes free-motion quilting a breeze

The Brother VR is a single-needle embroidery machine that offers free motion quilting capability. For the uninitiated, this means that with a few easy adaptations (full instructions are included with the manual) you can turn this embroidery machine into a free-motion machine, letting you add stippling, free-motion quilting or free motion embroidery designs to your projects.

For me, this is a game changer! I love free-motion quilting, but it can be tricky to achieve on a home machine with a limited throat size. The unlimited space with the completely free arm gives me an extra wide bed allowing me to move the quilt around freely and really play with my quilting – an absolute must-have!

The Brother VR in my studio

As you can see from the picture, my sewing studio is a busy place, and there’s always a lot of quilting to be done. This means I need a machine that allows my creativity to flow, but without the restrictions of a traditional machine, and thankfully the Brother VR promises that freedom.

The first time I set the VR up as a free-arm machine, I was glad of the instructions! There are several steps required, but the manual has all the details, including easy-to-follow diagrams to lead you through every stage. There’s a comprehensive toolkit included so you have everything you need once you’re set up and ready to get started. Most of the elements can be left in-situ for the embroidery feature too, which is a great help.

Using the VR makes free-motion quilting and free-motion embroidery easy since both involve stitching freehand without the feed dogs – the teeth that usually pull your fabric through the machine to stitch a straight line – engaged. The nice thing about the VR is that it doesn’t have feed dogs in the first place, which is one less thing to worry about when stitching free motion.

The next thing that you need to think about on a standard sewing machine is the size of the throat – the space that you need to get your quilt though. Again, this is an issue that is completely avoided with the VR because it has no throat, which means that there’s unlimited space to quilt and embroider in. I can move my work as much as I like with the wide table and there is no struggling with manhandling it through the throat.

A large table space makes working on a large quilt a dream

Part of the conversion from embroidery to free motion is attaching the finger guard – a plastic protector that slots around the needle and makes sure your hands will never accidentally stray too close to a moving needle – and I like that the VR has the safety feature. Using it as an embroidery machine, you don’t need to worry about getting your hands close to the needle, but obviously, this is an issue once you want to be moving your fabric around.

The all-important finger guard

The VR also comes with a free-motion grip, a useful tool that lets you manoeuvre quilts easily around the extra-large table without quilt gloves or having to grip the fabric. This equals better control and less chance of hand and shoulder strain.

Free-motion grip to help move the fabric easily

One of my favourite free-motion features is the LED pointer. It sometimes feels like these extra features are a bit of a gimmick, but I found it useful for the precision placement of my starting stitches.

The LED light allows perfect placement.

The set-up

Once all the free-arm elements are set up, how do we get started?

Well, being Brother, it’s super simple! First, switch on the power and the home screen appears on the large, full-colour LCD screen. Then select the Free Motion Mode button (see image below).

Selecting Free Motion Mode

I love how easy everything is to select – just tap the touch screen with a finger and away you go! 

Free Motion Mode lets you sift through all sorts of free-motion embroidery settings.

Free Motion Mode

The first options allow you to choose whether you want the machine to stop with the needle up, or down in the fabric. I find it preferable to free-motion quilt with the needle down, so it won’t accidentally slip when I move the fabric.

You can even choose two different heights for the needle to finish – for different fabric thicknesses! The button on the right lets you switch the LED pointer on or off. Once again, I like this feature so I’m keeping it on.

Then you can set the speed that you are comfortable quilting at! You can set two speeds – a minimum and a maximum speed - using button 1 and 2, and you can increase or decrease your speed using the + and – keys. Mine was set to the maximum speed of 500spm, and I was happy with that, but it’s important to fine-tune the settings to suit your particular way of working.

The buttons at the bottom of the screen allow you to choose whether you want to control the VR with the foot controller, or with the Start button. Like so many things with this machine – the choice really is yours!

This was my first try and I am pretty happy with the results!

My finished free-motion

The Brother VR is also an amazing embroidery machine – we’ll be looking at those features another time – but for me, it’s the machine’s simply ground-breaking free-motion capabilities that are is the most striking. Having a huge area to work with, and no throat restrictions means that I can express myself in the quilting even more than before.

Sarah Payne

Like many people, Sarah started crafting at her mother’s knee with knitting, crochet and cross stitch. But, like most children, she soon lost interest as she discovered Sindy dolls and later on; boys!

After studying the arts with a passion at school, Sarah succumbed to the pressures to pursue a ‘real’+ career, going to University to study Economics and following a career path in IT. However, the early love of arts and crafts never left her and was given outlet in small jewellery making and mixed media textile projects that would fit in a travel bag.

These projects got bigger and she discovered the pleasure of quilts and other sewing machine worked projects. After 15 years travelling and working, Sarah decided to take a break and pursue the creative side of her nature. Since taking the plunge, Sarah opened a fabric shop and has had quilting patterns published in British Patchwork & Quilting, and Popular Patchwork.

She is a regular contributor to Quilt Now with hints, tips and projects, has launched a successful range of quilting USBs packed full of instructional videos and designs her own fabric range for Craft Cotton Company. Sarah is also known for making many of her own clothes and is also a popular tv sewing demonstrator on Create and Craft, Britain’s largest craft-based shopping channel. She regularly presents 30 – 40 live hours of crafting TV a month, aimed at beginner and improver sewers.

Web - http://www.sarahpayne.co.uk/
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/SarahPayneQuilter
Twitter - https://twitter.com/sezpayne
Blog - www.sarahlpayne.blogspot.com