Machine review
Brother HC1850 review
The fastest published feed rate and the largest stitch library of Brother's quilting-marketed domestic machines, with the free-motion foot sold separately.
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The short answer
Buy it for the speed and the stitch library. Budget for the free-motion foot, because Brother publishes it as Optional.
Brother publishes 185 built-in stitches including 55 alphanumeric characters and 8 one-step auto-size buttonhole styles, 170 stitch functions, one built-in monogramming font, a maximum sewing speed of 850 stitches per minute, adjustable speed control, a detachable wide table, a backlit LCD, a needle position key, an LED work area, 8 quick-change presser feet, unit dimensions of 12.5 x 19.25 x 15.25 in and a weight of 13.2 lb.
It also publishes “Free Motion Quilting Foot: Optional” - where the cheaper CS7000X and XR3774 both publish “Yes.”
The one figure that beats everything in its tier
850 stitches per minute is the fastest speed Brother publishes for any of the five machines it markets as a sewing and quilting machine. In order: HC1850 850, XR3774 800, CS7000X and CP100X 750, XR9550 not published.
What 850 spm buys against the rest of the tier
At a 2.5 mm stitch length, 850 spm is about 84 in of seam per minuteagainst about 74 in at 750 spm - roughly 13% quicker than the CS7000X and CP100X.
On a queen top quilted in straight lines 4 in apart - roughly 2,480 in of stitching - that is about 30 minutes against about 34.
Both numbers assume a stitch length and line spacing we chose. The percentage comes straight from the two published speeds. And for scale, both Brother PQ machines publish 1,500 spm, which is another 76% on top of this.
Speed on a domestic machine is less about finishing sooner than about the seam staying straight: at a higher rate you feed fabric continuously rather than in small pushes. The HC1850 also publishes adjustable speed control, so the 850 is a ceiling you can work under rather than a setting you are stuck with.
The largest stitch library here
185 stitches, 170 stitch functions, 55 alphanumeric characters and a monogramming font. Brother describes the functions as covering “garment construction, quilting, decorative and heirloom sewing,” and there is a flip chart attached to the front of the machine showing all of them - a small thing that matters when the alternative is hunting through a manual.
For quilt labels the monogramming font is the useful part. Only the XR9550 matches it in this tier; the CS7000X, CP100X and XR3774 all publish zero lettering fonts.
The Optional foot, and what it actually costs you
Brother’s specification sheet distinguishes three states for the free-motion quilting foot, and publishes a different one for different machines: Yes for the CS7000X and XR3774, Optional for the HC1850, and no row at allfor the CP100X and XR9550.
Optional means it is not in the box. For free-motion quilting - moving the fabric yourself in any direction under a hopping foot - that foot is not a nice-to-have, it is the whole technique, as free-motion quilting on a domestic machine sets out. So the real price of this machine is its price plus a foot.
Brother’s carton list for the HC1850 also names no feet at all, only an accessory pouch with needles, bobbins, a seam ripper, a cleaning brush and a screwdriver. The 8 feet appear only as a count.
Where else it falls short
No published opening. As with all five machines in this tier, there is no needle-to-arm figure. That remains the reason none of them is ranked above a PQ machine for quilting.
13.2 lb. The heaviest of the tier - 30% more than the XR9550’s 10.14 lb. Brother does publish a built-in carrying handle, which helps.
No knee lifter row. Absent rather than “No,” which is the same gap the XR9550 has.
No automatic thread cutter. Published as “No.”
HC1850, XR9550 or CS7000X?
The HC1850 if you want the fastest published speed, the biggest stitch library and a monogramming font, and you are willing to buy the free-motion foot.
The XR9550 if you want most of the same stitch library including the same 55 alphanumeric characters, at 10.14 lb instead of 13.2 and usually less money - accepting that Brother publishes no speed for it at all. XR9550 review.
The CS7000X if quilting rather than sewing is the point, because it names its walking foot, quilting foot, piecing foot and quilt guide and includes the free-motion foot. CS7000X review.
Who should buy it
Buy it if you sew garments and decorative work as much as you quilt, if the stitch library and lettering are the draw, and if a published 850 spm with adjustable speed control is worth the extra over the 750 spm machines.
Do not buy it expecting a free-motion setup out of the box, and do not buy it as a large-quilt machine - like everything else in this tier, its opening is unpublished, and the two Brother machines that publish one are a different purchase.
The picks
The HC1850 and the two machines either side of it
Brother
Brother HC1850
Entry domestic tier
185 stitches, 170 stitch functions, a monogramming font and a published 850 stitches per minute - the fastest figure Brother publishes for any of its quilting-marketed domestic machines. The free-motion quilting foot is published as Optional, which means it is not in the box.
Skip it if: You want free-motion quilting out of the box. Brother publishes that foot as Optional here and Included on the CS7000X and XR3774.
#ad Price as of October 18, 2026, from Amazon. Prices change. How this site is funded.
Brother
Brother XR9550
Entry domestic tier
165 stitches including 55 alphanumeric characters, a lettering font, a wide table and a hard case, at the lightest published weight of any machine on this site - 10.14 lb. It is the stitch-library answer at this tier rather than the quilting answer.
Skip it if: Quilting is the main reason you are buying. Brother publishes neither a throat figure nor a sewing speed for this machine, and does not itemize the included feet.
#ad Price as of October 18, 2026, from Amazon. Prices change. How this site is funded.
Brother
Brother CS7000X
Entry domestic tier
The cheapest machine Brother puts the word quilting on, and it earns part of it: a walking foot, a quilting foot, a quilt guide and a wide table are all in the box. What is not in the specification is a needle-to-arm figure - Brother publishes none for this machine, which is the one number quilting actually turns on.
Skip it if: You are quilting anything bigger than a throw. Brother publishes 750 spm and no throat figure here, against 1,500 spm and 8.7 in on the PQ1600S.
#ad Price as of October 18, 2026, from Amazon. Prices change. How this site is funded.
How this was ranked
Machines we claim to have tested: none. Everyone in this category says they tested twenty. We have not tested any, and we say so. What we did instead: built the candidate set from what Amazon actually stocks, read the published specification off each manufacturer’s own page, normalized every measurement into the same units and the same order, did the arithmetic on what each step up buys, and left every figure the maker does not publish visibly blank rather than filling it in. Every number on this page links to where it was published, so you can check the work in about five minutes.
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Questions people actually ask
Frequently asked
How fast is the Brother HC1850?
Brother publishes 850 stitches per minute, the fastest figure of any machine it markets as a sewing and quilting machine - against 800 for the XR3774, 750 for the CS7000X and CP100X, and no published figure at all for the XR9550. Speed is adjustable.
Does the Brother HC1850 come with a free-motion quilting foot?
No. Brother publishes “Free Motion Quilting Foot: Optional,” which means it is not in the box - where the cheaper CS7000X and XR3774 both publish “Yes.” Budget for the foot if free-motion quilting is why you are buying.
How many stitches does the Brother HC1850 have?
185 built-in stitches, including 55 alphanumeric characters and 8 one-step auto-size buttonhole styles, plus 170 stitch functions and one built-in monogramming font. That is the largest library of any machine on this site.
Is the Brother HC1850 good for quilting?
For piecing and machine-guided quilting, yes - it has the fastest published speed in its tier, adjustable speed control and a detachable wide table. For free-motion you must buy the foot separately, and for large quilts Brother publishes no opening figure, so it cannot be checked.
How much does the Brother HC1850 weigh?
Brother publishes 13.2 lb, the heaviest of its five quilting-marketed domestic machines - about 30% more than the XR9550’s 10.14 lb. A built-in carrying handle is published.
Sources
Every specification on this page was read from one of these pages on 1 September 2026.