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The Brother XM2701 is a mechanical machine with 27 built-in stitches, 63 stitch functions and a one-step buttonhole. Its argument is that it keeps the automatic needle threader and the jam-resistant quick-set drop-in bobbin at a price where most machines drop at least one of them. What it gives up is presser feet: six, and none of them a walking foot.
The ranking
Quick picks
Ranked against the published criteria below. Tap a row to jump to the full write-up; the price button goes straight to Amazon.
The cheapest machine that still threads itself
Brother XM2701 Sewing Machine
Brother's entry mechanical keeps the automatic needle threader and the drop-in bobbin and drops almost everything else — which is the right corner to cut if a first machine has to stay under the price of a computerized one.
The XM2701 is the machine that answers the question this site exists to answer: what is the least you can spend and still have a machine that does not make you give up? Brother's specification lists an automatic needle threading system and a jam-resistant quick-set top drop-in bobbin on a machine it lists at $149.99. Those two features are the difference between an evening of sewing and an evening of swearing, and most machines at this price drop at least one of them.
What you give up is breadth. Six presser feet — buttonhole, zipper, zigzag, narrow hemmer, blind stitch and button sewing — cover ordinary garment sewing and nothing beyond it. There is no walking foot, so quilting through batting will fight you, and no quarter-inch foot, so piecing accurately means marking or moving the needle. Both can be bought later; both cost money the CS7000X does not ask for.
Stitch selection is a dial and thread tension is manual. That is not a bad thing for learning. A dial has no menu to get lost in, and manual tension forces you to understand what tension actually does rather than trusting a machine to hide it from you. It is slower to get a perfect stitch and faster to understand why the stitch was wrong.
One number to take seriously: 12.6 lb. That is the heaviest machine in Brother's beginner line here — heavier than the CS7000X at 10.5 lb and the XR9550 at 10.14 lb — and there is no hard case. If the machine is going to live on a shelf and come down for each session, weigh that against the price saving.
We have not sewn on this machine. The specifications above are Brother's own, and the price on the button is live from Amazon.
What works
- Keeps the automatic needle threader — rare at this end of Brother's range
- Jam-resistant quick-set drop-in bobbin, the same system as machines costing far more
- A one-step buttonhole rather than a four-step one, which is a real difference the first time you sew a buttonhole
- 27 stitches is genuinely enough for a first year of sewing
- Brother publishes a 25-year limited warranty on it
What does not
- Six presser feet, and none of them is a walking foot or a quarter-inch foot
- No hard cover in the box, so it needs somewhere to live
- At 12.6 lb it is the heaviest of Brother's beginner machines here, which matters if it gets carried to a class
- Manual thread tension, so uneven stitches are a dial you have to learn rather than something the machine corrects
The kit it pairs with: Budget for a walking foot if you plan to quilt, and for a dust cover — neither is included.
What survives the cost cutting
Brother's specification lists the XM2701's needle threading system as automatic and the bobbin as a jam-resistant quick-set top drop-in. Those are the same two systems fitted to the CS7000X, which lists at nearly double. If you only take one thing from this review, take this: those two features do more for a beginner's first month than any stitch count.
The buttonhole is the third thing worth having. Brother specifies one one-step auto-size buttonhole. One style is fewer than the seven on the CS7000X or the eight on the XR9550, but one *one-step* buttonhole beats a four-step buttonhole in any style — you place the button in the foot, press, and the machine sizes and sews it. The LX3817 fifty dollars below has a four-step, and that is the boundary we would not cross.
What it costs you
Six presser feet: buttonhole, zipper, zigzag, narrow hemmer, blind stitch and button sewing. That covers straightforward garment sewing. It does not cover quilting, because there is no walking foot and no quarter-inch foot, and it does not cover a serged-look edge finish, because there is no overcasting foot. All three can be bought later; between them they cost a meaningful fraction of the machine.
No cover and no wide table. Brother lists the carton as a darning plate, an accessory bag with a needle pack, a twin needle, a screwdriver, an extra spool pin, three bobbins, the power cord and the operation manual. That is it. A machine with no cover on an open shelf collects lint and dust, and lint in the bobbin race is a leading cause of the tension problems people blame on the machine. A cover is on our starter kit list for exactly this machine.
12.6 lb. This is the heaviest of Brother's beginner machines here — heavier than the CS7000X at 10.5 lb, the LX3817 at 10.36 lb and the XR9550 at 10.14 lb, and heavier than either Singer's M1500 at 10 lb. With no case, that makes it the least practical machine on this site to carry to a class.
27 stitches and 63 stitch functions
Two numbers appear on Brother's specification and they are not the same thing. Twenty-seven is the count of unique built-in stitches. Sixty-three is the count of stitch functions — the same stitches at different widths and lengths, which the dial selects as separate positions. Neither number is a reason to buy or avoid this machine; twenty-seven stitches is more than a first year of sewing needs.
Stitch selection is a dial, and thread tension is manual. Both are, for learning, arguably advantages. A dial is legible at a glance and has no menu state. Manual tension means an uneven stitch is a dial you have to understand rather than a setting the machine silently corrected — which is slower to fix and much faster to learn from. Our threading guide covers what tension actually does.
Who should buy the machine one step up instead
If you already know you want to quilt, buy the CS7000X. The walking foot and quarter-inch foot it includes are the two accessories you would otherwise buy for this machine, and buying them separately closes most of the price gap while leaving you without the wide table, the hard cover and the drop feed.
If you already know you want to make clothes with buttons, look at the XR9550 for the buttonhole styles and the overcasting foot. If your honest answer is 'hems, seams and the occasional repair', this machine is more than enough and the LX3817 might be enough — read the threading comparison in that review before deciding.
We have not sewn on this machine. We do not own it, there is no test bench here, and we are not going to describe a stitch we never made. What we did instead: read the manufacturer's published specification line by line, cite every figure to the page it came from, and price the whole setup — machine and the kit it still needs — so you know what starting actually costs.
Method
How we picked
- Compiled every specification from Brother's own XM2701 product page, checked 1 September 2026.
- Compared threading system, bobbin type, buttonhole type and presser feet against the LX3817 below it and the CS7000X above it, since this machine's whole case is what it keeps and what it drops.
- Scored against the published formula on how we pick.
- Priced live from Amazon; the published Brother list price is quoted separately, dated, and never used as the buy price.
We have not sewn on these machines. There is no test bench here, we do not own them, and we do not accept free product. Everything above is compiled from published manufacturer specifications and live retailer data — and we tell you which is which on every claim. Our full method.
Answers
Questions people ask
Does the Brother XM2701 have an automatic needle threader?
Is the Brother XM2701 good for quilting?
How many stitches does the Brother XM2701 have?
How much does the Brother XM2701 weigh?
Where this came from
Sources
About the author
Scooter M.
An enthusiast who is genuinely into this. I read the manuals, compile the published specs, and do the arithmetic. No lab coat, no test bench, and no machines I am pretending to have used — which is exactly why every claim here carries a source.
Published by Slate Mill Group. Published September 1, 2026; last updated September 1, 2026. Editorial policy.
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