Machine embroidery beginner tips
 

I don't know in the correct thread I wrote or not. But still I’ll ask. Can a beginner have some tips here? I need my first embroidery machine. What was the first one you had? How did you choose her? So far I have only read a bunch of reviews and am completely confused.

your first consideration when looking for a machine should be budget.
once you have decided how much you can spend your options will narrow.

i have been very happy with my Brother machine.
it's a high end so cost a small fortune.
however there are machines out there that will fit into most budgets.

Babylock is also worthy of recommendation.
i'm sure others will tell you if they are happy with different brands they use. :)

make sure to choose a brand for which you can find certified local service and repair.

I have the Husqvarna Designer Topaz 20. I have had it about 4 years now. And I love it - but I was not looking for an embroidery machine when I bought it. It was time for my little FW to go in for a full spa treatment and the shop is also a Husqvarna/Viking dealer and he asked if he could interest me in an embroidery machine. My response was. "I don't have $4000.00 to invest in a sewing machine." He said he could make me a deal for not even half. And wishing 20 minutes I was hooked. It was the floor model, and had the full warranty and 4 lessons. I did not know when I bought the machine about needing an embroidery program - the one from Viking 5D Embroidery was $350.00, but it expanded the program that came with the machine 100%. And I have a friend that helped me learn all the things the embroidery things. (i.e. the difference of an alphabet vs font). My largest hoop is 200 x 260mm. And even though I have been tempted to look at machines with bigger hoops I don't think I will.

My friend that helped me with my machine moved to the Phoenix area and she bought the Brother PE770. It uses the Embrilliance program and it has a lot of options my program does not have. But her largest hoop is 5 x 7 - so when she wants a larger pattern she uses my machine.

You can check out different machines at shows and dealers. Find out what you like and what you can afford.

Brother are great machines, especially if your on a budget or just starting out. I recommend Janome or Babylock also. I would suggest to get the 5x7 hoop size or you will probably find yourself wishing you did. A 4x4 hoop size would be fine to start out with but limits you.

I have Brother machines & love them, very user friendly. Get one with the largest embroidery hoop you can afford. You can spend heaps on accessories like computer programs etc, so shop around before buying the first you see.

I have a Babylock and chose that over Brother because my DH hates Disney. My dealer sells both and they are about the same. I've taken classes on the Brother that is equivalent to my Babylock.

Since there is a good learning curve, you want to make sure to get a machine you'll have support for -either online tutorials or in person classes. My first embroidery machine was a used Pfaff - I never did figure out how to use the embroidery part until after I bought my first Babylock and had learned on that one. After I knew the basics, it wasn't too hard to figure out how to get the Pfaff to work, which I did before I gave it away to someone that wanted to explore machine embroidery.

Once you get a machine, take time to learn about stabilizers and what and when to use the different products. That can make a big difference in the quality of the finished product.

And if you want to do more modifying and creating your own designs and already have a home computer, I'd suggest getting separate software to use.

I chose my brother dreamweaver because I had wanted a pe700e for years but fell in love with muvit foot for sewing and the dreamweaver had a 7 x 12 hoop which I later upgraded to 8 x 12 so it was a big enough hoop to grow into without wanting more and had enough features, and brothers are easy to use out of box without classes which I did before my class

My embroidery machine is a Bernette 340 that I purchased a dozen years ago or so. I like it because the quality of the embroidery is excellent, but If I had to do it over, I would go with a machine that:
1. can do normal sewing and embroidery (one less machine to take up space in my sewing room) and
2. can embroider larger designs (my Bernette's maximum design size is 7.87" x 5.5")
Make sure the machine you choose has the option to add designs via internet download or USB stick because that can add thousands of additional designs to the ones the machine comes with. Embroidery designs are usually fairly cheap and sometimes even free from sites like:

https://www.emblibrary.com/EL/default.aspx
or
https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/
[SUB][/SUB]Hope this helps.

More recently, I read reviews on another forum and everyone wrote that Brother is a great machine, but there are thousands of them saying that instead of a Brother everyone buys Janome. I was very surprised at this.

I think the budget will allow me to buy Brother (Brother PE800) since I had a financial goal for such a purchase and I want to buy one machine once and for ages :)

tee hee.....I don't know if you can buy an embroidery machine "for ages" cuz....an embroidery machine is basically a sewing computer.....how long does your phone last before it gets outdated? and your I-pad...or whatever computer device you own....at some point, the systems in your sewing computer will not support the newer stuff out there...and replacement boards will no longer be available. Now if you are lucky, you will have one that continues on but if something does....you eventually have to search for used replacement parts. My first embroidery machine was a Viking D1...I think it is about 20 or so years old now...it still works last time I tried it...but...it has an old floppy drive...getting the floppies to put the designs on is a bit tough....and the software I used doesn't run on the newer windows operating systems. the D1 still runs great and is my go to machine for heavy sewing....but I seldom use her now. I haven't tried transferring my old embroidery designs stored on a floppy to a usb yet....I have an old external floppy drive I can plug into my desktop....but...yeah...see what I mean...anyway...I do not do embroidery as much now.....I just bought a new Bernina 570 which I got an embroidery arm for....but I haven't tried it out yet for that....I loved doing embroidery when I was working, I would come home tired and just sit and watch the needle do the stitch outs....I made a lot of little white lace snowflakes as tree ornaments and that is what my sister mainly uses on her tree now....so pretty....started adding the little crystals to them...