Introducing the BERNINA 990: The Ultimate Embroidery Machine

October 2, 2024 Kate Toney

BERNINA 990 Ultimate Embroidery Machine

Have you seen the biggest sewing news of the year? BERNINA has released its brand new top-of-the-line machine, the incredible BERNINA 990: The Ultimate Sewing, Embroidery and Quilting Machine!

I’ve already shared some of the amazing features that make it the ultimate sewing machine, and now I’m excited to share the ultimate embroidery features!

The Ultimate Embroidery Machine

Scanner

One of the biggest wows on the B 990, which is saying a lot because the machine has so many exciting features, is the Placement Scanner. It allows you to scan the fabric within the hoop to aid in perfect placement of your design. Here, you can see I have scanned a block and, by using it as my background, I can play around with design placement.

Scanned quilt on B 990 display screen

See how I was able to mimic the curve of the block because I have the scan on screen to use as a reference?

Scanned quilt and lettering on B 990 display screen

I love using scanned images to “audition” designs on my project—it’s so fantastic to see the designs on the project as you make stylistic choices.

background options on B 990

All current model BERNINA hoops are compatible with the B 990 and all can be scanned with the Placement Scanner. Because the BERNINA 990 is Wi-Fi capable, you can also send the scan of your hoop to BERNINA Embroidery Software V9, both DesignerPlus and Creator. This means you can scan the hoop, send the scan to your computer, digitize it, then send your custom design back to the machine via Wi-Fi to stitch out.

using a stylus on the BERNINA 990 machine

Lettering

Lettering on the B 990 is really exciting! The first thing you’ll notice is the 24 fonts in the machine. Each one of these fonts has the capability of limitless resizing. That’s right! Every font will stitch out perfectly at any size you desire with full stitch recalculation.

font options in the Letter folder on the B 990

The B on the left is the default size of the motif while the B to the right is scaled to 1000% its original size. No worries! Both will stitch out beautifully on the B 990.

Jumbo B vs tiny B on the B 990

Don’t you hate it when you’re trying to make a quick quilt label or add a name to a project and accidentally spell something wrong? This happens to me all the time! You can see in the image below I spelled “with” incorrectly. In other BERNINA models, we unfortunately have to delete our lettering and redo it, but not in the B 990! In the B 990, I can select the Edit Text icon in the Edit menu or Context Menu (more about that soon) to fix it right then and there.

sample lettering on the B 990 display screen

Selecting Edit Text will bring back up the keyboard and allow me to not only edit my text but I can also change the justification of the text or the font. This is just a fraction of the cool things we can do to edit our lettering in the B 990, so be sure to get to your local dealer to learn more about it!

B 990 qwerty keyboard

Touch Gesture Editing

I personally believe that out of all the new features, the Touch Gestures have changed the way I use my machine more than anything else. I am someone who loves a shortcut and will always take the fastest path to finish a project. If you can relate, you will love the Touch Gestures on the B 990 as much as I do.

Touch gestures allow us to use our hands on the screen to navigate the machine, as well as edit our designs. These gestures feel very intuitive, as many are similar to what you would use on your smart device, like moving your fingers apart to zoom in or moving them together to zoom out.

touch gestures on the B 990

The Context Menu is genuinely one of my top three favorite features on the new machine! That’s right—out of all these cool features, a simple menu makes my top three.

Like I said before, I love a shortcut and anything that changes the way I use the machine for the better is always going to make me happy. When you tap and hold on a design, the Context Menu will appear and provide you with options on how you’d like to interact with that design.

Edit Text (when applicable)
Lock
Delete
Delete All
Mirror Left/Right
Mirror Up/Down
Select All

Options like this at my fingertips, without having to open the Edit menu, are so great when I am building a design. I love the new Lock feature, too, because it prevents me from accidentally moving or editing a layer. I just tap on the layer to unlock if I need to.

accessing the Context Menu on the B 990

You can also edit your design quickly using the new bounding box. The rotation handle at the top center of the design allows you to rotate the design in 360 degrees. Dragging the corner nodes will resize the design proportionally and using the nodes on the side of the bounding box will resize the design disproportionally. Just another way editing is a breeze with the B 990!

heart and text to show the rotation handle on the B 990

Tip: You can navigate the screen using the stylus (included accessory), hands, or (new to the B 990) a computer mouse! Plug in your wired or wireless USB A or USB C mouse to navigate the screen. You can even use the mouse to zoom, tap, and hold just as you would with your Touch Gestures.

If you can’t tell, I could talk about this machine all day, not only because I love it so much but also because there are so many cool new or enhanced features!

You’ve seen some of my favorite sewing and embroidery features—what do you think so far?

If you’re curious to hear about even more features on the B 990 or learn more about what all comes with the machine, then stop into your local BERNINA dealer to see what else makes the BERNINA 990 the Ultimate Machine, like: