Brother CV3550 Double-Sided Cover Stitch Machine

I pre-ordered this machine last year and waited 2 months before it arrived to my dealer and I absolutely love this machine. I'm a first time user of a cover stitch machine and this is one of the best additions to my machine family. The stitches are absolutely professional looking. I highly recommend anyone to purchase this machine for a professional finish and embellishment.

Just picked up my new cover stitch machine last week. I put in a hem in a pair of yoga pants with the triple stitch and it looks lovely. I highly recommend this new machine for the triple cover stitch and the easy release at the end of your sewing. Well worth the extra dollars.

I used my 3550 to sew scraps of material onto the back of an old curtain to make pockets for a purse I was making. Putting different colors on each spool made for a very pretty accent to the fabric. However, like a lot of Brother products there isn't enough information on how to use the various accessories.

I am a professional alterationist and purchased this machine when it first came out as my goal is to always make an alteration look as if it “never happened.” While I do get good results most of the time, I do think there is room for improvement. 1. Increase the presser foot height. Tried to top cover the cuff on a sweater and it was very difficult getting the seam under the foot. 2. It hates sewing over bulky seams! It “ate” the aforementioned sweater!! You literally have to pull the fabric through when trying to sew across a seam on sweater knit or fleece fabric. 3. It sounds like a tank! (And that's what I named my machine: “Tank.”) 4. There is no way you can get the seam of a sleeve cuff positioned under the needles to sew in the round. The bed area is too wide when the side plate is removed. Hence, you are forced to either turn the garment inside out in order to properly position the seam under the needles, or rip out an underarm seam in order to sew it flat. So, bottom line is....unless I really need to do a top cover-stitch on something, this machine sits as I much prefer my Janome CPX1000. Perhaps Angela Wolf can do more extensive videos on the operation of this machine in the case there are solutions for these issues.

Temperamental machine that needs a lot of tweaking for each fabric. Lots of skipped stitches. Wish there were more options for usable attachments to help with binding for knits and hemming. Agree that the presser foot need to elevate much higher as I frequently have snags when I pull out fabric under the feet at the end of stitching. I will be looking for a replacement for this machine soon. Hear Janome is a good choice.

I bought it almost 3 months ago. Not once had it worked right away. I have spent more time trying to have a nice stitch than to actually sew a garment . Today, I couldn't resolve the issue. It just kept on skipping stitches and nothing NOTHING could be done. Ref., the pictures of the Women from Toronto: same here.

I bought CV3550 from an authorized Brother's dealer in Toronto - World Sew Centre. It was in a factory sealed box and never tested in the dealer's store. I wish i never bought this machine. It is simply a piece of junk. It CANNOT sew knit fabrics - it messes up stitches, rips threads, stitches are terrible quality. I took it back to the dealer, it was tested with their mechanic/owner in my presence and the mechanic confirmed in writing that it does not work properly but still refused to issue a refund and told me to contact Brother. I sent an online complaint to Brother. It has been over a week and i am still waiting for Brother's management to say something. Their customer service agents are telling me it has been escalated, marked as a top priority, but it's been 1 week and counting. The dealer is ignorant and unprofessional with zero customer service. It is a shame for Brother to have such a dealer who told me - this machine will work fine if you don't sew knit fabrics with it. Duh? It is made specifically for knit fabrics and i am being advised not to use knits with it?! Ridiculous and absurd! Brother, you need to step in and stand behind your product. I am not going to invest my hard earned money into this poor quality defective right out of the box machine. You have to give me my money back for this product which does not do what it is advertised to do!

I bought this 4 months ago and like another reviewer I rarely have a perfect run with no skipped stitches. It's so finicky, only wants specific needles and specific thread for the looper, and still won't do a simple hem. Don't stop or you're definitely having skipped stitches or it eats your fabric and you spend an hour picking it out and have holes in the fabric! An ideal machine should be able to do a straight hem with no issues with the specific needles and thread without 10 practice runs. I won't use any of my performance material on it. Spend the money on a better machine.

I have a 1034D serger and the 2340 CV, which have been solid workhorses. I looked everywhere for the 3550 when I heard about the double coverstitch. I've had it over 2 years and have yet to get a single line of stitching without skipped stitches. It has ruined everything I've tried to stitch on it. I've followed the tips on the facebook page. I just gave up halfway through a chewed-up pair of athletic shorts and came here to write a review before I throw this piece of junk in the garbage can. I have been sewing for 20 years and have never experienced such frustration. The LED light is laughable, and the presser foot doesn't lift high enough to slide even thin fabrics under it. This thing should never have made it to the market.

This machine needs A LOT of fiddling around to get a good stitch on a sample. When you finally get a good sample and use the machine on your garment, you have to fiddle with it again after you take the messy stitches out. This machine is so frustrating to use that it takes the joy out of sewing.