I love my embroidery machine. It is a Husqvarna/Viking Topaz 20. It was a floor model and the dealer gave me a great deal and the full original warranty and several lessons. It came with a very basic embroidery program so once I had an idea of what I was doing I bought a better one, which was $350.00. I happen to live about 45 miles from Sewing Machines Plus so was able to go up and see in person some of the thread kits. (Started out with the Christmas kit, then the fall kit and finally the Spring Colors.) Now I buy colors as I need them and find that Threadart.com has a wonderful selection for reasonable prices. I have 3 different hoop sizes (4x4, 5x7, 8.5 x10). I buy most of my stabilizer on-line and sometimes at Joannn's when they have a sale.
I just made embroidered dish towels for 2 of my friends and my sister. My daughter teaches 4th grade and I just made embroidered bookmarks for all of her students as a Christmas gift. And I personalize pillow cases for my niece and nephew. And I have embroidered onesies for my daughter's friends that have had babies. And the list goes on and on.
Free standing lace is fun to make too.
There is a learning curve. But once you get the hang of it, which does not take long, you just keep embroidering more. My DD is forever asking me to embroider something.
My machine is a sewing/embroidery machine, since I have the Janome MC6600 I leave the Topaz set up for embroidery. But I can make it into sewing in just a few seconds.
Luckily I had a fearless sewing buddy (by that I mean she is not afraid to make a mistake) so we worked together to learn the ins and out of my machine. She ended up buying the Brother PE770, she got a great deal with the larger hoop and a thread kit with 50 different thread colors for about half of what I paid for my machine. She also uses the pre-wound bobbins, she said they are more cost effective than winding her own.
If you get too small of a machine, you may not use it very much. Most of my designs are larger than that. Just for fun go on the Embroidery Library website and see all their designs and prices just to get an idea. There are a lot of websites, but this one has a lot ideas and basic information.
Last edited by quiltingcandy; 12-13-2016 at 11:54 PM.