Is the Aldi Digital Sewing Machine any good? The Aldi £149 sewing machine review

Earlier this year Aldi released a Necchi machine - made by Janome featuring monogramming. The machine sold out within a day during pre-sale. Today Aldi released their own brand So Crafty Digital Sewing Machine, again priced at £149. So if you're thinking about it, should you buy it? Is this machine any good?

1. Lettering or monogramming is a premium feature. Sewing machines offering this function do not come cheap. The next best thing would be the Brother Innovis A150, priced at £489. If you really want monogramming and you don't want to pay a hefty price tag, buy the Aldi one now!

2. The Aldi So Crafty Digital Sewing Machine features needle up/ down button, a one-touch button for reverse stitch, and you select your 200 stitches from an LCD panel as well. There is some degree of computerised machine functions for the price of an entry level mechanical machine! If you are fed up using your hand wheel to move your needles, and you really want more stitches, then go and get the Aldi one now!

3. BUT, there's a big but. The Aldi So Crafty Digital Sewing Machine has a 30W motor. Just to give you an idea: the John Lewis JL110 machine (£139) - also made by Janome - is an entry level mechanical machine that features a 60W motor. The Brother entry level machine LS14S (£80) features a 70W motor. Whilst power consumption of a machine is not directly correlated to how powerful a machine is, 30W is a very very small motor. If you are thinking about doing more elaborate projects on this machine, you will probably be disappointed.

4. What are the others saying? UK sewing blogger Abi's Den bought the Necchi machine and did a detailed unboxing, in it Abi mentioned the tension of the sample stitch is wrong. Now while thread tension is something you can manually adjust, there's certainly a question around the machine's stitch quality. Users have also reported timing issue and this is a much bigger problem that will cause stitches to form erroneously. You will need to take this to a shop to get this repaired.

5. The auto-threader is an older type, of a fiddlier mechanism.

6. Plastic. Now the Aldi So Crafty Digital Sewing Machine is encased with a brittle, shiny plastic consistent with an entry level sewing machine. The joints if not moulded correctly at the manufacturing stage, there would be "plastic protrusions". If the sewing surface is not flat, there is every chance that your fabric can get snagged.

Verdict - Should you buy the Aldi So Crafty Digital Sewing Machine?

👍 If you are going to be using this as your main and only machine look elsewhere.

👍 If you really wanted monogramming function, and you'll only use this to sew on light to medium weight, single layer fabric, then go for it!

👍 If you have the space at home for a second machine, then definitely go and get yourself a new toy!

The machine is available today on 22 September 2020 via this link.