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BROTHER PACE SETTER 6500

My research led to 1830, a French tailor Barthelemy Thimonnier is given credit for inventing the first functional sewing machine. He was nearly killed when angry French tailors burned down his sewing machine factory.

Walter Hunt 1834, is said to have built America’s first sewing machine. He then believed it would cause wide spread unemployment, so abandoned his work and lost interest in pursuing it any further.

In 1954 Brother International Corporation (Brother.com) came to the United States with a long awaited line of high quality sewing machines. And has since provided us with superior quality sewing and embroidery technologies. Little did they know at that time the impact they would have on the sewing/embroidery world, as we know it today?

I purchased my first Brother sewing machine over twenty years ago. It has never seen the inside of a repair shop. I simply kept it oiled, vacuumed the dust and loose threads out occasionally, thus it never failed me.

I just received the Brother PC 6500 last fall. What a dream come true!

At first, I was truly overwhelmed at what they said this the PC 6500 could do. How was I ever going to learn how to operate such a sophisticated machine? Not only could it sew, it could embroidery too? No, this was impossible. It would be too hard to learn, as I had experienced from looking at other sewing/embroidery machines. But true to Brother’s word they had simplified the sewing/embroidery technologies of today’s needs for the home and commercial sewers.

I put Meadow on my lap (6 years old.) Meadow held the manual and read the pictures to me (as though she was reading the directions.) Within an hour we were well acquainted with our new, very best friend. It was true! The AC 6500 was fun, fast, easy to learn, and most of all user friendly. You do not need a technical degree to simply follow the manual.

We had now sewn nearly everything in the house together with many pretty designs and stitches. The PC 6500 comes with 67 utility stitches built in and an array of designs all at the touch of a picture on the panel. Even some of Meadow’s cats had fancy new duds with custom made buttonholes to put their arms and legs through. What fun and delight!

Not only could a novice use this machine, but also the most sophisticated tailor. The PC 6500 will go from sewing leather to lace, just by simply changing the needle and thread. If I’m dreaming, please do not wake me up.

We spent the entire afternoon playing with our new best friend. I told Meadow, “Tomorrow we will learn how to do our hand work (embroidery) on this machine.” She just looked at me like I had just gone bonkers.

That evening I called two of my friends who do some high-end tailoring here in the Napa Valley and told them about the new Brother PC 6500 I had been playing with all afternoon. We agreed to meet at my house shortly after my husband left for work. I do not know what kind of machines they were using, but I do know what kind of sewing machines they both went out and purchased that week.

Meadow and I sat down at the computer. Again, she was reading me the directions from the pictures in the manual. You really have to see this to believe it. No one has been able to simplify an operating manual like this until now. The embroidery software was simple and easy to install. In no time we were looking through all of the beautifully done artwork Brother International has created for the PC 6500.

Each design is meticulously and beautifully done. Nothing has been left out. Every detail in each design has been included.

Meadow and I selected the number 50 set of patterns for our first project. Thumbelina is one of our most favorite fairy tales. Never have we seen it so beautifully captured in embroidery or even in her story books, as Brother International has done in their PC 6500 embroidery patterns. This one is a must see and a must experience.

We then printed everything out we were going to work on. All of the patterns we selected were printed out just like they were on the screen, with the list of thread colors we would need in the order they would be used. How much easier could it get?

We sat back down and turned the sewing machine into an embroidery machine. Again true to Brother’s word, it was so simple. Just change out the sewing head for the embroidery head. Just follow the step-by-step instructions in the manual.

We threaded the PC 6500 with the first thread color on the printout. Attached the embroidery hoop to the arm, centered it, and then we kind of held our breath. It was magical. Meadow and I sat here in complete awe, as Thumbelina started appearing right before our eyes in vivid color. It was truly awesome to see the look on Meadow’s face as her favorite fairy tale was being embroidered right before her eyes. The PC 6500 will embroidery a full 7″ by 5″ area. We had to make a trip to the fabric store.

We selected a heavy white atin, Pellon stitch and tear, and medium weight muslin. We came back home and went to work cutting out the fabric in squares, layering them together. I got Meadow started, basting them together, as I continued to cut and assemble the fabrics together. Imagine that? A sewing machine so simple a child can use it (with supervision) and yet so sophisticated high-end tailors prefer it to anything else. What would those factory burning French tailors think now? Have you guessed what we are making yet? A satin, Thumbelina quilt for Meadow’s bed.

I called my two tailoring friends and told them waht we were doing. They didn’t believe me so they came over. We were so engroseed by what we were seeing and doing, that we did not hear my husband come in from work. We were all huddled around this new machine, not a clue there was still a world going on outside around us.

The look on David’s face said it all; a machine had replaced him. Supper? We just looked at each other, was this a stitch we had overlooked? Meadow was not up in his arms yelling with delight that her Papa was finally home from work? Was she ill?

David just turned around and left. He was back in a short time with supper for all of us. (I have the most wonderful husband in the world.) He sat with us to try and understand what it was we could be so awestruck by. We introduced him into a wohole new world, and he ordered up three new denim work shirts. We each made him a new shirt, and of course the one Meadow and I made had Thumbelina, flowers and rainbows on it. He wears it so proudly.

We needed more bobbins. I went online to Brother.Com and located the deealer closest to me. ABS Sewing – 892 Alamo Drive – Vacaville, CA 707-455-8133.

I put a call into the store to see if I could purchase them over the phone. Julian Lis, the owner just happened to pic