minky

I have a small 4x4 hoop, Brother 7050E. It's okay, but I sometimes wish it had a 5x7 inch hoop. But, I do make large
projects. It's all a "learning curve" experience. Sometimes trail and error....but, I have found an excellent source for
thread. It's Metrothread.com. They have a lot of colors and variegated ones too. (I am not affiliated with this company)
just like to pass on savings when I find them. Their mini spools are less than a $1.00 a spool....

Up North

I have a PE 350 Brother Machine It has only a 4 inch hoop. Do labels, T shirts, and have done a quilt with it. I use any thread I have and often do outside of the colors suggested. Brother Machines are easy to use inexpensive and mine was up and working within 30 min out of the box.

monroe231

I've got a Brother PE770!

Linda1

I have 2 Brother embroidery machines. One only has 4 inch design and is a fantastic machine. I wanted the 7 inch so I bought the 780D because I could do Disney. The learning to use them was easy. I have never regretted buy either one

Sewnoma

I have a Brother PE770 as well; I've had mine about 2 years now, I think. I don't use it really often but so far I've had zero troubles with it, only operator errors (wrong stabilizer, etc.).

It gets most use around Christmas - last year I did a whole bunch of embroidered kitchen towels for family members and they all turned out really nice and were very popular!

I purchased mine on Amazon, and I was a little nervous about not buying from a dealer but in the end I have no regrets. It arrived safe and sound and ready to go right out of the box. I haven't had to adjust or change anything at all. It just works.

My only gripe is the screen is not very high resolution and is small. It can be really hard to tell what pattern you are selecting. I get around that by only loading the pattern or few patterns I will be immediately using onto the thumb drive, so it's easy to make sure I'm picking the right pattern. But when I look at what I would have to pay to get a better screen, I am content with what I have!

ShirlinAZ

I have the Brother PE770 with additional hoops also. I love it. I bought mine from Amazon also and paid a little less then the link Chasing Hawk posted, but I didn't get all those accessories with my machine. I'm glad I can use the 5x7 hoop with mine, as well as the 4x4. I've never used the really tiny hoop and rarely use the longer hoop. I have had a thread breakage problem with the machine, but the second time I took it in the repairman showed me what was happening and why and I was able to devise a cure for the problem so thread no longer breaks. I really enjoy my machine. I am just finishing a quilt with embroidered 6 inch blocks, and I've started a crazy quilt with machine embroidered blocks.

I bite the bullet and buy Madeira thread online. It's more expensive than some threads, but worth it and I can buy individual colors, not thread sets. I also buy most of my designs from embroidery library and their color change sheets are done in madeira colors so I don't have to guess what color to use unless I want to. I've bought my threads a few colors at a time so I now have a pretty nice, though not a huge, collection with the colors I use most.

shasta5718

Babylock is a very user friendly machine and can be used for regular sewing as well. The one here is advertising the Elligao for 60% off. You might want to check it out.

ShirlinAZ

Here are some pictures of my fix for breaking thread on my Brother PE770. I've done quite a bit of embroidery since doing this, and I've not had any thread break. I will add that Brother and Babylock are made in the same factory, but the company quit selling single purpose embroidery machines under the Babylock name. I like having an embroidery only machine as I often piece with my sewing machine while my embroidery machine is doing its thing.

delores41

I gave a husquvarna, love it!!!!!!!!!!!! I really got into using the embroidery function, easy and fun. Embroidery machines do grow on you.

Chasing Hawk

Thank you Shirley for posting the pictures. I am going to check my machine and possibly do the repairs.