I was in the same boat....
I purchased this book from Amazon: Embroidery Machine Essentials: How to Stabilize, Hoop and Stitch Decorative Designs [Paperback]
Twigg Jeanine
I also watched alot of You Tube Videos and asked lots of quests and did a lot of trial and ERRORS!....
In my limited experience, if the fabric is heavy and has little to no stretch, u probably can get away with no stabilizer. I find some off beat things to use as stabilizer too ( mostly from my reading online) coffee filters,tulle, I even bought some wedding aisle runner at Goodwill that is wonderful for light wt stablizing...
I purchase most of my threads on ebay or off craigslist and have built quilt a collection of FREE emb designs. I dont know much but I'm willing to help u and learn along with u if u care to PM.