Baby Lock Zeal Reviews & Buyer’s Guide

Looking for a capable, cheap, and sturdy sewing machine? The Babylock Zeal will interest you.

But, price shouldn’t be the only concern. After all, a sewing machine is a long-term investment, no matter how low the price is. So, you need to be aware of its capabilities.

Worry not though. After reading this review, you won’t feel hesitant. It covers every aspect of the Babylock Zeal so that you can make an informed decision.

Not a fan of long reviews? You don’t have to read the detailed review. The first part of the article covers the same aspects in a short and comprehensive manner.  

But, if you can spare a few more minutes, continue to the detailed review section of the article.

Let’s get started.

Babylock Zeal Reviews

The Babylock Zeal is a lightweight, compact, cheap, and easy-to-use sewing machine with a couple of tiny drawbacks. You get almost every feature you would require as a beginner or as a seasoned sewer.

The automatic thread cutter and needle threader are prominent features that keep your workflows frustration-free.

Moreover, the sewing machine comes with a free arm that you can use for sewing sleeves, hemming pants, or take on any challenging project. Just replace the flatbed with the free arm.

Plus, it is equipped with 25 built-in stitches and a buttonhole foot. The variable stitch length allows effective gathering and basting. In addition, you can easily replace the bobbin. Just drop the bobbin in and drag the thread through the opening.

However, the only two caveats are that it doesn’t offer adjustable speed and a needle up/down position. All in all though, the Babylock Zeal provides a great bang for the buck and provides a smooth sewing experience with attractive features. You can click here to read additional consumer reviews for this machine.

PS. Keep reading for our full review of the Baby Zeal!

Babylock Zeal In-Depth Review

If you are not ready to invest a hefty sum of money in a premium sewing machine, the Babylock Zeal offers all the bells and whistles at an affordable price.

But don’t let the lower price point cloud your judgment about it. Let’s first look at its features, pros, and cons.

The Babylock Zeal is equipped with 25 built-in stitches, which allows you to take on different projects and add a touch of creativity to them.

You’d sometimes need a basting stitch to hold the fabric in place while you stitch. You may also need to gather the fabric to match it with a shorter piece. While hand stitching is an option here, it’s not an efficient way.

Thankfully, with Babylock Zeal’s adjustable stitch length feature, you can perform a variety of techniques like gathering and basting with ease. You can use longer stitches for such techniques as they are easier to remove.

Moreover, changing the bobbin is no hassle at all. You would just need to drop the bobbin in the hole and drag the thread across an opening. The rest is taken care of by the sewing machine.

There will always be some difficult-to-reach parts on your fabrics. You will also want to hem pants and sew sleeves. The free arm makes all these tasks a breeze. Just replace the flatbed with the provided free arm and work on challenging projects with ease.

In addition, the Babylock Zeal comes with a buttonhole foot. The one-step buttonhole allows you to create perfect-sized holes to match your buttons.

Your eyesight doesn’t need to be weak to feel the pain of manual needle threading. But, thanks to the built-in automatic needle threader of the Babylock Zeal, you won’t face any issue threading the needle.

Not only that, the Babylock Zeal allows easy thread trimming as well. The built-in thread cutter takes care of this monotonous task, enabling you to focus on more creative work.

Storing accessories in a quick-to-access spot is essential while working on a project. Luckily, there is a spacious accessory storage compartment in the Babylock Zeal, so you can have all the accessories you want instantly accessible.

And, while the sewing machine is quite easy and fun to use, the company provides a lot of online tutorials in the form of videos, webinars, and classes to get you started if you are a beginner.

However, the sewing machine doesn’t offer a needle up/down position. And, you can’t control the speed of stitching on this machine. Speed adjustment is important when you are going for precision stitches and are a beginner at the craft, and for some people, is not a feature they are willing to go without.

All in all, the Babylock Zeal is a lightweight, compact, easy to use, and inexpensive sewing machine with all the features you would need as a sewer, except speed control and needle up/down position. So, for the price, it’s actually an incredible value and we’d still recommend it if you don’t need pricey features, bells and whistles.

Click here to see more reviews, prices, and the full feature list for the Baby Lock Zeal

Conclusion

The Babylock Zeal is for you if you want the best compromise between price and features. It’s beyond doubt that this sewing machine is up-to-the-mark as far as build quality and capability is concerned.

It offers automatic needle threading and thread cutting, 25 built-in stitches, a one-step buttonhole, a free arm, a built-in accessory compartment: all at an impressively low price point.

However, if you’re looking for a machine with more features, then head to our other baby lock sewing machine reviews page to help you find a machine that has the features you need for your projects.

Barb Koehler

Barb, our resident quilter and embroidery aficionado, weaves a thread of creativity through our collection. Serving as the curator of machine embroidery content, Barb infuses each design with a touch of her artistic expertise. The free embroidery patterns you discover on our site often bear the mark of Barb’s craftsmanship. Let’s get crafting!