I have a Brother 350. It does embroidery & regular sewing. I mostly use it for embroidery and that is what I got it for. It may as well be embroidery only. I have other machines I use for sewing/piecing/quilting. The price on the 500 is better. Brother has another 'embroidery only' machine that does a larger design, but the cost is twice as much. I would have concidered this one if it was available when I got mine.