Embroidery machine opinions
 

After seeing the Brother embroidery machine being sold at Costco posted by someone last week, I started thinking I would like to buy one. I would be a "newbie" to this and therefore do not wish to spend a lot of money on it.

I am thinking of either the Brother LB6800THRD (which was posted from Costco) or the Brother SE400. Does anyone have any experience with these machines and would be able to help me out here with any advice? I would appreciate anything - good or bad - as I really have no clue what I am looking at.

Thanks.

It would be very important to find a dealer if possible for them to allow you to demo it. Especially when you don't know what to look for or what questions to ask. Every machine made will have some saying good things about and some saying bad things about it. The problem is, you don't know if the bad things are due to user error or the machine. Some machines you can trick into doing what you want like changing the thread position or slowing it down and all of a sudden a picky machine will take thread that before it was shredding. Plus, at a dealer you usually get great classes

Here is the link to the embroidery machine thread where folks chat about different machines, stabilizers, and threads. http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...un-t32969.html I read this last week because I'm looking at the Brother PE 770 embroidery machine and I've never used an embroidery machine before. There is lots of information in that thread. You can also do a search for your Brother machine model numbers to see if there are any other threads discussing those machines.

The two machines you're looking at are combo machines, that is, they are sewing machines with an embroidery arm that you attach. If you already have a good sewing machine, you don't need a combo. I don't know anything about the LB6800THRD, but the SE400 is a good machine. A few embroidery only machines I can recommend for a beginner are the Brother PE500, Brother PE770, Brother Designio 820, and the Janome MC200e. All of these are good machines that won't break the bank. I'm a die hard Brother fan but had such a bad experience at the Brother dealer so I went to the Janome dealer and bought the MC200e as my first embroidery machine. It uses a 5x5 hoop that's a little bigger than the entry level Brother machines' 4x4. It's a great machine. If you are going to buy online, while you're waiting for your machine, go to Utube and spend the next few days watching the gazillion videos on machine embroidery. There are videos on just about every machine you can think of.

Cari

I have the PE770 and I'm very happy with it. I bought it on Amazon - it's listed right now for under $600.

Thank you so much for giving me your opinions - I really appreciate it. I will check into the machines and the link that was recommended.

My sister in law has this and it's a workhorse. Although a few years old, it's still listed on Brother's website! She embroiders a lot - with success.

She has the LB6800

I have the PE770. Great machine, I love it. It has the 5x7 hoop. Try to get the largest hoop size you can. That 4x4 machine will get old in a hurry. There are just so many great designs that take a larger size.

I too have the brother PE770. it has the 5x7 hoop which I use a lot. My only complaint is you can't see your design on the little screen on the machine.