Baby Lock Accord Review: A Fantastic Sewing & Embroidery Combo?

If you’ve been thinking about having a go with machine embroidery, you might have started to look into a combination sewing and embroidery machine. This type of machine can vary from relatively simple to mind-bogglingly complex. The Baby Lock Accord is an entry-level model, which means that it’s quite user friendly. But does it have the features that you need?

About Baby Lock and the Baby Lock Accord

Unlike Singer or Husqvarna, the Baby Lock company only dates back to the mid 20th century. But in the short time since then, they’ve made a name for themselves.

How? 

Through a combination of quality, power, and accessibility.

Baby Lock’s mission began with introducing one of the first overlockers to the home market. Since then, they’ve brought out a wide range of machines for sewing, embroidery, quilting, and other crafts, that are simultaneously richly featured and easy to use.

In addition to machinery, Baby Lock hosts a thriving community for crafters. They offer a range of classes, tutorials, activities, and get-togethers for machine users around the world. So when you buy a Baby Lock, you’re not just purchasing equipment, but also becoming part of a vibrant worldwide community.

The Baby Lock Accord is an easy to use sewing and embroidery machine for the home sewist.

Who is the Baby Lock Accord For?

Here’s the thing.

There are quite a few simple, entry-level sewing and embroidery machines on the market. They’re generally quite user friendly. But many of them are also very limited. You might initially be drawn in by a low price, but if you continue the craft in any serious way, you’ll soon start to feel those limitations.

The limitations we’re talking about include:

• Rudimentary editing capabilities
• Small embroidery area 
• Only accepts one size of hoop
• Limited on machine memory
• Small design library

Like many Baby Lock machines, the Accord presents powerful features in a way that’s accessible to users at a variety of levels. As is common for Baby Lock machines, the Accord doesn’t come cheaply.

However, for the extra money, you get a larger maximum embroidery area, two included different sized hoops (including one that works in multiple directions), and decent on-machine memory. 

The embroidery design library isn’t huge, and the editing capabilities are still pretty basic, but you can easily import additional designs using the USB port.

As for sewing, the stitch library is quite respectable indeed, boasting 250 stitches and five sewing alphabets. And the stitch editing capabilities are also quite sophisticated.

So, while the Baby Lock Accord is easy enough for a beginner to use, it has the power and versatility to grow with you in your craft. We think it would make an excellent machine for machine embroidery enthusiasts at a variety of levels.

What Makes a Great Sewing and Embroidery Machine?

Sewing and embroidery machines can have a dizzying array of features. It’s important to know which features are deal breakers, which are simply nice to have, and which you don’t actually need at all.

Here are a few of our must-haves.

Sewing Features

A great sewing and embroidery machine starts with next-level sewing features like these.

Stitch Library

The number of built in stitches can vary widely from machine to machine. Generally speaking, the more advanced the machine, the greater the number of stitches. 

A sewing and embroidery machine is a step up from an entry level computerized sewing machine. In addition to all of the essential utility stitches, look for a wide selection of decorative and specialty stitches. 

A good sized stitch library at this level should have between 150-350 stitches total.

Buttonholes

A computerized sewing machine often has a selection of buttonhole designs to choose from. Look for around a dozen.

Sewing Alphabets

Many sewing and embroidery machines also have sewing alphabets. A sewing alphabet is a selection of alphanumeric symbols, each one of which is a single stitch. Some machines may have a single Latin font with English and European diacritics. Others may have cursive fonts, and non-Latin fonts, like Japanese or Cyrillic.

Stitch Editing Capabilities

On almost every sewing machine you can “edit” stitches by making them longer or shorter. With more advanced machines, you may also be able to elongate designs without distorting them, repeat designs, and even sew in mirror image.

On-Machine Memory

One of the more fun advanced sewing capabilities is combining stitches and sewing letters into custom sequences. Many machines at this level will also allow you to save your combinations (as well as your favorite single stitch edits) to your machine for future use.

Some machines will even come with long-term and short-term memory.

Embroidery Features

In addition to great sewing features, a sewing and embroidery machine should have a decent array of embroidery features, including these.

Design Library

Most sewing and embroidery machines come with a number of embroidery designs (or motifs) built into the memory of the machine. Look for around 100-200 designs. 

In addition to motifs, you might also find frame designs and other design elements, as well as embroidery fonts. Embroidery fonts are different from sewing fonts, in that each letter consists of many, many stitches (sewing font letters are each a single stitch).

Design Transfer Technology

Many sewing and embroidery machines allow you to import designs that you buy from third-party sellers or create yourself with embroidery software. The most common transfer technology is USB. 

You may occasionally find WiFi or app-based transfer, though those are typically features of higher end machines.

Design Editing Capabilities

Most basic sewing and embroidery machines allow you to resize, move, rotate, repeat, and combine designs. Higher level machines may have additional editing capabilities.

Maximum Embroidery Area

One primary difference between higher end and lower end embroidery machines is the maximum embroidery area. Very basic embroidery machines often have a small max embroidery area – often around four inches by four inches. 

More advanced machines will have larger max embroidery areas. Many top of the line machines, for example, have embroidery areas of twelve by sixteen inches.

Included Hoops

Like hand embroidery, machine embroidery uses hoops to hold the fabric taut. Almost every embroidery machine will at least come with one hoop. Some come with more than one hoop. Some come with several hoops in different sizes.

Thread Handling

Thread tangling or breakage can cause a real problem in machine embroidery. Some embroidery machines come with sensors to tell you when your thread has broken, if it’s running out, or if it’s become tangled. 

You might also find machines that can go back to the place in the design where the fault happened so that you don’t have to sew the entire design over again.

Features and Benefits of the Baby Lock Accord

The Baby Lock Accord has a lot of excellent features. Here are some of our favorites:

Sewing Features

The Baby Lock Accord takes sewing a bit farther than your average sewing machine.

Stitch Library

The Accord’s stitch library is very respectable, indeed. It boasts 250 distinct sewing stitches, 10 buttonhole designs, and five sewing alphabets. 

Advanced Stitch Editing

The Baby Lock Accord allows you to edit stitches in numerous ways, including:

• Combine designs
• Mirror image stitching
• Change stitch density
• Resize
• Continuous pattern

On-Machine Memory for Stitch Edits

Combine stitches and / or lettering into custom sequences then save them to your machine for later use. You can also save your favorite stitch edits.

Automatic Thread Cutter

Cut your upper and lower threads with the press of a button.

Twin Needle Sewing

A twin needle allows you to sew two identical parallel rows of stitching at the same time. It’s one way of greatly expanding your existing stash of decorative stitches.

Knee Lifter

The Baby Lock Accord also comes with a knee lifter so that you can raise and lower the presser foot without taking your hands off of your work.

Embroidery Features

The Baby Lock Accord has some impressive embroidery features, as well.

Design Library

The Baby Lock Accord comes with a library of 141 motifs, 140 frame designs, and 13 embroidery alphabets. That’s more than enough to have a lot of fun with, even if you never add to that library.

USB Design Transfer

The Baby Lock Accord has one USB-A port for convenient design transfer.

Maximum Embroidery Area

The Baby Lock Accord has a maximum embroidery area of five by seven inches. It’s not enormous, but it does allow for a bit of flexibility.

Two Included Hoops

This model comes with two hoops: one five inch by seven inch (130 millimeters by 180 millimeters) hoop, and another that measures five inches by twelve inches (130 millimeters by 300 millimeters) and can be positioned in multiple directions.

Upper and Lower Thread Sensors

This model comes with upper and lower thread sensors to help you to troubleshoot and keep track of your thread.

Alternatives to the Baby Lock Accord

The Baby Lock Accord is a well made sewing and embroidery machine with a lot to recommend it. However, there are numerous similar machines on the market, and each has a slightly different set of features. It’s possible that one of these other models may suit your needs better.

Brother SE1900

Brother makes a variety of lower priced basic embroidery and sewing and embroidery machines. The Brother SE1900 costs about half of what you might pay for the Baby Lock Accord. Its features include:

• 240 sewing stitches
• Six sewing alphabets
• 10 buttonhole styles
• Five inch by seven inch maximum embroidery area
• 138 built-in embroidery designs
• USB design transfer
• Seven embroidery fonts
• Knee lifter
• Sideways sewing

The Brother SE1900 could be a good choice for someone who wants an inexpensive sewing and embroidery machine, but is wary of the bargain basement.

Baby Lock Verve

The Baby Lock Verve costs about one third of what you might pay for the Accord. As you might expect, its features are a bit more limited. However, it’s still quite a powerful machine, and well made, too. Its features include:

• 191 built-in sewing stitches
• 10 one-step buttonholes
• 95 built-in embroidery designs
• 10 embroidery fonts
• USB design transfer
• Four inch by four inch embroidery area
• Included extension table

If you want a Baby Lock sewing and embroidery machine, but aren’t quite ready for the Accord’s price tag, the Baby Lock Verve could be a good compromise.

Bernette B79

Bernette makes high quality equipment with powerful features. The Bernette B79 is an easy to use sewing and embroidery machine with a terrific array of features, including:

• 500 built in stitch patterns
• 208 built in embroidery designs
• Seven embroidery fonts
• Maximum embroidery area of 10.2 inches by 6.3 inches ( 260 millimeters by 160 millimeters)
• Three different sizes of hoops included
• High speed stitching for sewing (1,000 stitches per minute) and embroidery (850 spm)
• Bernette Toolbox editing software included

This is a lot of sewing and embroidery power for a bit less than the Baby Lock Accord. Frankly, in our opinion, it’s a better machine for a better price.

Should You Buy the Baby Lock Accord?

The Baby Lock Accord hits the sweet spot square in the middle. It’s easy to use, powerful, and very reasonably priced, too. 

There are less expensive sewing and embroidery machines on the market, but few are as well made as the Accord, and fewer still have the same excellent features. And you’d be hard pressed to find an entry level embroidery and sewing machine with the same generous embroidery area.

At the same time, if you do your research, you’ll very likely find similarly priced models (such as the Bernette B79), which have more and better features.

Still, Baby Lock makes excellent machines, and if this model fits your bill, we’re happy to recommend it for beginning and intermediate home embroidery enthusiasts.

Have you used the Baby Lock Accord? What did you think? Tell us all about it in the comments!