Does anyone know if Brothers and BabyLock are made by the same company? I have a BabyLock Quilter's Choice that is about 7 years old. Paid about $1000 for it and have had a lot of problems. In and out of repair shop. Decided I was going to get myself a "cheap" sewing machine and read some reviews from GoodHousekeeping that recommeded the Brothers that I just bought for $200. I set it up and if I didn't know better, I would swear it was my BabyLock. Just about all the same features, the exact same feet. Hope it has improved in 7 years!

I believe they are made by the same company... I love my brother...

Good; I am hoping I don't have the trouble with this one that I did with the BabyLock!

My mechanical Brother has given me no problems and is not fussy about thread, fabric, etc. It will sew just about anything. Good luck with yours.

they are not the same company, but brother does sell them their machines, and babylock puts there name on them and markets them differently, they do usually have a few differences, and I do think the babylocks are made a little better. With embroidery brother has the disney features and also has the my custom stitch feature on their machines. this feature can't be found on the babylocks. Also the babylock embroidery machines I think have nancy ziemen designs on theirs instead of disney. I know the babylock quest I think is a pfaff machine so they do get their machines from other companies as well, but the do get a lot of their machines from brother. I haven't heard of too many people having problems with their babylocks, maybe you just got a defective one from the factory. Happens in all brands. I have had my babylock espire which is a brother machine for 2 1/2 years and absolutely love it. Has never given me any problems.

Baby Lock doesn't make any machines. Most are made by Brother, with primarily cosmetic differences. And as already said, Brother has exclusive Disney designs. The Baby Lock Quest Plus and it's replacement the Serenade are made by a Taiwanese factory, which also makes the Pfaff Smarter and Singer L-500. So those machines aren't made by Pfaff or Singer or Baby Lock. I have a Quest Plus and it's excellent!

There are maybe 4 sewing machine factories in the world. All the machines out there are made in one of those factories. Thus, Brother and Babylock are made in the same factory. Only the Babylock are made to Babylock specifacations. By the same token, Toyota makes Lexus. For sure not the same car,but made in the same factory. Ever notice how the Juki sergers look like the Bernina sergers? Same factory. It is just a cost effective move. The out side looks the same, but the inside is where the differences happen and the quality comes forth.

finally the truth about these machines. they are assembled in the same place but to different specifications.

I have 7 machines - a Pfaff, 2 Janomes, 2 Singers, and 2 Brothers; a Brother 1500s and a Brother SE-270D.

The Brother 270D is a re-manufactured machine my husband bought from Overstock for $300. It's small, lightweight, has a 4" hoop for embroidery. It's been going strong for about 10 years now, and was my "daily driver" for about 5 years.

Then I upgraded to my "Big Brother" - the 1500s. Holy cow, do I love this machine! Big, sturdy, and fast at 1500 stitches per minute. Auto-threader, cutter, knee lift. Most of my other machines are now sitting in closets. I told my husband if something ever happened to this machine, I'd buy another 1500 in a New York minute.

My opinion is you cannot go wrong with Brother.

About a year ago I attended a seminar taught by a Brother Trainer/Employee. This question came up during class and her answer was that Brother owns Babylock and the machines are built on the same line, using the same parts. What makes one Babylock vs Brother is the cover color they put on the machine and the colors and graphics used in the software loaded. Each brand includes different embroidery designs but the machines are identical. When asked if Babylock was the superior machine her response was "think about it - the name of the Company is Brother. Why would they manufacture another machine (Babylock) that was superior to the one that carries the Brother name? The answer is they wouldn't do that; it doesn't make good business sense!"

Ironically, I just received a Babylock Ellageo today from ebay. It is identical to my Brother Pacesetter ULT's Disney machines One is 2002, the other is 2003, and this Babylock (I think) might be 2001? Anyway, only the opening screen is different. The installed designs are the same in all 3 machines (except the pacesetters also have Disney designs). In fact, I bought the machine without emb attachment, but immediately set it up with my Brother emb arm attached, and stitched out a design. Just to see if all worked, and to see how well the Ellageo performed. So this answers a lot of questions about the two brands being different or alike. I had always believed the Babylocks were a little upper end, but made by Brother. Hmmph..can't find any difference in mine, and I've already taken the covers off to give a good cleaning. Looks identical!

Now for sure I'm so sorry I returned a brother for a babylock a few yrs ago.....more$$$$ for nothing different!

This has been an interesting and informative discussion. Thank you for posting this. :)

I think there are both good machine. The real difference may be the help you get at the store you buy it from.
The store I go to has free classes for people to sew or embroidery as well as paid.
Free class to learn how use the machines, take care of, threads to use etc. They also set up 1 hour lasses per person for any trouble or understating you need to work your machine. (This s lifetime) I have had many, answers like the wrong thread for project, do this if to heavy a project a project, or just showing me how to make sure every tread is cleaned off bobbin and how a makes a big difference. bobbin case cleaning .etc. Just my thoughts.

I should clarify my previous response that the Brother Trainer/Employee was speaking of the sewing, quilting, and embroidery machines only and that sergers were not made in the same facilities or in the same manner. BabyLock does have different specifications and patents on some of the individual serger features.

When we asked the reasoning behind the BabyLock's marketing strategies, she told us BabyLock has it's own marketing and sales departments, totally separate from the Brother, and she did not know what was behind their marketing strategies.

My Paff had a nervous breakdown and passed several years ago. After much research I bought the Brother Dream Machine a few months ago and I love it.

This is an untruth perpetuated by Brother, and it disturbs me to no end that it happens. Brother does NOT own Babylock. Brother is a Japanese multi-national company. Babylock is an American company that collaborates with Brother in the design of some of its machine, but whose quality control and standards are MUCH higher than the Brother's. We get parts from both Brother and Babylock at our shop. The Babylock's is made with high-end reinforced plastic and the inside molds are sanded down. The same can not be said of the Brother's. Hands down, i'd buy a Babylock over a Brother any day.

I have owned both for over 25 years. Over the last 50 years, I have owned every name brand machine. I have been extremely satisfied with both Brother and Baby Lock. As long as they continue with the quality of machines I have owned, used and have demo'd, I don't care where they are made and who has bragging rights.
There is only one name-brand machine on the market that I have not owned (to remain nameless). I am sure it is a great machine, millions love and swear by it, but it is not for me. Found it to be unsatisfactory and not up to my standards.
With that in mind, as long as YOUR machine meets YOUR standards and expectations, does it matter which factory makes it? As long as your Dealer stands behind the manufacturer, stands behind the warrenty, and has knowledgable educators and top-notch repair, does it matter where it is manufactured?
Sorry if I stepped on toes or offended anyone.

This isn't uncommon. As mentioned, Toyota makes Lexus, the same is true with clothing. We had an infant clothing manufacturer in our town and Sears labels were put in the sleepers they made for Sears because Sears had their own set of specs for sizing (which was actually larger than industry standard sizing).

No. They are two separate companies that share the same assembly plant for economies of scale.

try to get a Brother dealer to service your Babylock or vice versa. They can't get each other's parts because they are different companies.

I have a Babylock Ellegante and a cheaper Brother XR3140. They use the exact same feet so what does that tell you? Same bobbins too, just a different shade tells you to which machine they go to.

Many machines share feet and bobbins - I don't think that is relevant. What I do believe is that the machines are very similar, and what is important is the dealer. I have Babylock simply because I don't like the local Brother dealership

Wow. There's a lot of misinformation mixed in with truth in this thread. Brother doesn't own Babylock. Tacony does. Brother builds most of the Babylocks and yes they are a higher end, more expensive version of Brother machines. You're paying for the Babylock name after all.
There are many sewing machine factories in the world, but only 3 factories that build sergers.
There is a lot of crossover between brands any more. Brother and Janome are the two largest wholly owned companies who build most of what we see in the US(not counting SVP who own Singer/Viking/Pfaff). Many years ago Brother badged the majority of machines, now it's Janome. They both build and badge many machines for other brands.
Never think a particular dealer can't get parts for another brand. They (or their tech) choose what machines they will or won't service/work on, unless they're contracted to only service the brand they sell. Like Sears used to be with their Kenmore brand. Until a few years ago Sears repairmen were only allowed to service Kenmores.
The information I've said here comes from a few good sources, including an honest good man who was a Babylock dealer for many years.

Cari

I'm dying here. I have no trouble getting parts for Brother or Babylock. In fact, the vast majority of parts are interchangeable and are cross referenced so I can order from multiple suppliers. There is zero mechanical difference between Brother machines and the equivalent Babylock. The ONLY differences are cosmetic, software and support. Babylock also sells machines made by Janome, HandiQuilter and others. They only unique machines Babylock sells are their Overlock/Serger machines. Full disclosure, I worked for a dealer who sold both Babylock and Brother and serviced anything that came through the door.

Interesting. As I stated earlier in this somewhat dusty thread, I own 2 different Brothers, one is a smaller, less expensive machine, the other a larger, heavier-duty, more expensive machine. The smaller Brother does have plastic parts. However, my "Big Brother" as I call it, has metal guts. One of the things that sold me on the Big Brother was how many quilters, both in my local community and in online forums, love this machine and consistently use the same word to describe it: workhorse.

I think most, if not all, sewing machine manufacturers produce several different models in order to meet demand in such a wide marketplace. They have to have products to sell to all skill and income levels, from what one salesman described to me as "disposable starters", to the quality-built, high-end machines for experienced sewists with who have more disposable income to invest. I wonder if you only see the less expensive, plastic Brother machines in your shop because the more expensive Brothers don't require repair as often as the high-end Baby Locks, and hence your opinion of Brother is that it's a shoddily built product across the board.

Brother's THE Dream Machine and Baby lock's Destiny are the same machine manufactured by Brother International. The differences are cosmetic and software (Disney vs Nancy Zieman, no stitch creator on Destiny--Brother keeps that feature exclusive on their branded machines). In fact, the MSRP on both machines is identical, but I have found that Brother dealers will sell their machines for a lot less than Baby Lock dealers. My favorite Baby Lock dealer and my favorite Baby Lock educator were both quite miffed when I mentioned that the Brother branded machines can be obtained at much reduced prices. Yet the dealer admitted knowing that and was obviously annoyed by it saying she could not sell hers at those prices. Both the dealer and the educator refer to the different branded equivalent machines as the same machine--because essentially they are. But Baby Lock has a reputation of exclusivity which must be upheld, and they also have to purchase their machines from other manufacturers with associated costs. You pay for that. You also pay for the extra services offered at some Baby Lock dealers.

A last note, in comparing a Baby Lock and Brother machine, they need to be the equivalent machines, i.e. DreamWeaver XE and Unity, DreamMaker and Spirit etc. If one were to compare a Baby Lock high-end Brother-made machine to a lower-end Brother machine, of course there will be a huge gap in quality. Some of the lower-end Baby Lock's have been troublesome just as their Brother counterparts. Apples to apples, oranges to oranges...

I am a true Brothers fan. I have 3. One I bought in 1959, it is all metal and still works. I will never give it up. The second is a 1500, which only sews straight stitches. It is my "work horse". My last one is a Laura Ashley N2000. Has all the bells and whistles that I wanted. Paid $1500. for it about 7 years ago and I love it! Good luck and happy sewing whatever you decide. Just finished this quilt yesterday. Pieced and FMQ on my N2000.

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I feel the same as you about the Brother PQ1500.... Its an awesome horse....