Hi
I have recently posted about considering the Elna brand, and I am going to get one in a few months. My question is, How is the computerized brothers with doing designs etc.
Both my machines(singers) do not do any embroidary, and neither would the Elna. Is brother good or is it just cheap?
Thanks
Any other suggestions that is under 400$ would be apperciated as well
Sorry for spelling mistakes
Emily

Brother has the exclusive contract with Disney. To get Disney you have to have a "D" on your machine. That part might not matter to you, but consider the following. If you go into the store in Disney were you can have ANY Disney product embroidered. The machine there is a Brother. I haven't gone out of my way to take photos of my embroidery, but my machine is a dream and sews redwork that looks just like handsewn.

Be it free patterns or bought ones they sew out beautifully. I think these show off some of the embroidery mine has done.

The tension is so easily adjusted it must have been designed by a quilter. Mine is a bit out of that price range though. :(

Here are a couple more I found
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_q_ISANhSeT...0/S5000386.jpg For this one I was trying to make FSL (free standing lace) without using wash out stablizer.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_q_ISANhSeT...rflycorner.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_q_ISANhSeT...bosideflim.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_q_ISANhSeT...lyboflismy.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_q_ISANhSeT...ventpoints.jpg

The snowmen are at the Brother site for free download, so is the critters in the bibs. The flowers are standard on my machine... The blue-redwork is freedownload from http://Annthegran.com oh and so is the lace

Hi, I have a Brother Innovis and the embroidery is suberb, make sure you get a machine that you can download designs from your computer, not all have. I especially like making my labels with it. However mine was more that 400$

Elle

Ditto on the ability to download Elle. A hidden cost to keep in mind is that if it requires a card, you will need the card and the card reader I think they're going for just over $100 these days on ebay.

I have two brother machines and I like both of them. The first one was in your price range and I picked it up at Walmart. I thought when I bought it that I would probably only do quilt labels boy was I wrong. I used it a lot. I just recently picked up another brother machine that takes a larger hoop and it was about $1000 but I really like them. The $400 ones are a great starter machine to see if you will really use them as much as you think.

a month or so ago, i got a White 3300 (made by Brother) and i LOVE it! using it way more than i expected. i got it used on Craigslist for $120. just yesterday i ordered the PED-basic card writer ($114) so i can transfer embroidery patterns to the card that fits in the machine. i can't complain at all, and hopefully when i decide to spend the money on a Brother with a bigger embroidery field (mine is 4.3 X 4.3), i can get the money back out of this one on Craigslist.

i don't think i'd ever spend more than $1000 on an embroidery-only machine.

Start looking on Craigs list...
When I first started sewing, I got an inexpensive Brother and as I became more experianced I got a Viking Quilt machine and then I became interested in emb. and bought the 8500D by Brother.
I eventually had to sell one of my machines and I sold the Viking...because I liked to be able to emb as well...
I finally got the Brother 4500Duetta this last May and I love it.
It is more than I want, as was the 8500D when I bought it, but I have grown into and out of some machines that I owned...I am growing into this 4500D. As well as keeping my 8500D for piecing and if I want to, emb 2 projects at once...
To me, it is better to purchase a bit more than to buy twice...buy one to make you reach a bit more and grow into...
Just my 2stitches...
K

I have the inexpensive Disney brother and I love it. I do everything on it. Need to order the writer program and chip so I can do more.


Linda

Elizabeth- what model do you have?

There's one on craigslist locally that I saw and was unsure.

thanks!

I have a BabyLock Elegante that my hubby bought me two years ago for Christmas. Then last year...out of nowhere, he bought me the Brother Duetta.....so I had two (well three cause I have a Bernina 180 that is about six years old). Anyway, the Brother Duetta and Babylock Elegante are EXACTLY the same. Brother makes both. This year he is buying me the Brother Quatro and I am trading in the Duetta(they are giving me full price that I paid for it.) I got a call today and it is in so we will pick it up on the weekend. Brothers do BEAUTIFUL embroidery and they are the most user friendly machines. Although I love love love my Bernina for sewing, it was NOT user friendly and I never use it to embroider. The babylock and the brother are going constantly. They have wonderful features. The brother has exclusive rights to the Disney designs, so if that is important to you, you would want a brother. The Babylock does not have Disney...both machines are awesome.

Margie :)

Mine is a Brother ULT 2001. I just love it. It's a great machine for any level of sewer and trust me I never thought I would say that. When you get into the high end machines the sewing machine companies think of them as a long term investment at plan on supporting then at least 10 years. Oh inspite of what my DH said (that I should get a machine with Disney) my machine isn't a "D" machine and therefore doesn't do it, but I don't mind, it's wonderful anyway.

The ULT 2001 takes cards and floppy disks. Trust me this is a nice feature especially for those of us who have a floppy still on our PC's. The disks cost a bit more than they used to but not like the cards. Newer machines now take a USB which would be a great feature allowing for the storage of more designs on one thing (currently I think mine stores about 30 or maybe a bit more per disk), but the time it takes to put it on the disk or chip is the same.

My Elna is brand new, and I feel I'm better supported by Brother with my used machine than my new Elna. Of course I bought both online which you're not supposed to be able to do with Elna so that might be part of it.

Margie is exactly right about the Brother and the Babylock though. The Brother ULT is just like the Babylock Ellageo. Here is the Ellageo [img]http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/...-Ellageo-3.jpg[/img] As you can see the Ellageo is just a bit more boxy, but that boxy look is gone completely gone in the newer Babylock models.

Patty I wondering if you still have your White emboidery machine, I have one and it just sits must of the time because I can't get it to stop breaking needles.

whats the opinion of the brother se350?

I have the Disney machine by Brother, and I have Pfaff. I will tell you that I use the Brother because it is so simple to program and I absolutely love it. The only drawback is the small hoop.

I am thinking about getting the Qautro 6000D. This would be my first (and probably last - can't imagine something it doesn't have). I expect to be able to use it for quilting and embroidery. Have your used yours for quilting and sewing also?
I am from Western PA and definitely a Steeler Fan.
Gloria

I started off with a Janome 350e - and it was a great machine (more than double your limit though) and then I sold that and got a 4 needle machine which I hated. It was loud and I couldn't figure out how to center things and the dealer was worthless when it came to helping me. I sold that and bought a Brother 4500d which I absolutely love. I don't use it nearly as much as I should I'm sure but when I do use it, I love it...

Having said all of that...
Brother does make some entry level machines - keep in mind they only have a 4x4 sewing field which is good if the only thing you want to do is monogramming or something like that. You will very quickly wish you had a bigger sewing field.

You might be able to find a used machine - try to get one from a dealer so they throw in a warranty at least for a little while.

I have the Brother LB 6770 Project Runway embroidery/sewing machine. I really like it but I wish I had got the one with the ability to do the Disney and a larger embroidery field. Mine only does a 4x4. It costs $546.00 tax included.

I have this one and i LOVE IT, it is very smooth, I am still new at using it, but so far, everything about it is great. I got mine at a walmart for $170, it was the floor model and they were getting rid of it...I was very worried it would be broke etc...but this baby runs like a dream. Best thing i have done.

I've had a Brother for about seven years. I love it. It has a large embroidery hoop but they must have come way down in price because I paid ovr 2000 for mine. It still works fine. We won't talk about how much I spent on thread. Ha!

Just needed to chime in here. You can buy and/or stitch Disney designs on any machine, you can buy Disney deigns for
"all" machine formats. They are expensive bt a number of sites offer free samples of many of the Disney designs. While it is true, Brother is the only machine that comes with Disney designs built into the machine, you can embroidery them with other brands of machines. I think it is "Needleworks" that has several free Disney designs. I personally own most of the Disney designs and I have Babylock machines.

Sorry, I just wanted to clear up the misconseption that you can only make Disney designs on a Brother machine.

Hugs, Gail

I just looked up the site that has several frre Disney designs, here it is http://www.needlework.ru/page/disney3embroidery.html

Gail

I have purchased a Brother LB6800 which ha sthe USB port. It is confined to 4x4 embroidery field. I really like the machine for both embroidery and sewing. I use it when I need to bring my machine to sewing classes. However I also have a Bernina 730 so while at home that is the machine I use. Considering the difference in price, I don't think you can go wrong with the low end Brother machine. I purchased mine in Costco for $399 and it came with 12 spools of embroidery thread.

My Bernina's embroidery field is 5 x 7 and is out of date with the newer machines. Who can keep up.

I have the Brother PE 770 and I love it. Costs around 800 dollars but I think it was worth it. I have the 5x7 hoop area and it;s really easy to use. I had to buy the flash drive separate 4 gigs for 12 dollars at Best Buy.

I got a PE-780D in March and I LOVE IT!!

I went in to get the smaller machine, without Disney, and then walked out with my Daisy.

INCREDIBLE. I'll post some pictures.

Gail,
Thanks for the link.

Chase

I am excited now. Your samples look like so much fun. You may have convinced me. Thanks.

Emily,

I too have a Brother embroidery machine. I had purchased the one at Walmart, but took it back and purchased the one from the dealer and paid several dollars more and got a dream machine. For another $1000 I could have gotten one that cut the stitches in between stops, which would have been nice, but for a $1000 I think I can cut the stops.

Let me caution you, it is addictive. Everything you see you wonder if you can put a design on that......

Karen,
Alabama

I too have some pictures, my avitar is a quilt that I did for my grandson with embroidery designs on it!

Just a quick butt in but I think that Brother no longer have the Disney licence as Disney were asking too much when the contracts came up for renewal.... so it is very hard to find the Brother D machines any more..... if you find one... buy it!

hugs

P.S.

P.S.

Some lovely work ladies!

I HAVE THE BROTHER INNOVIS 4000D...IT SEWS AND EMBROIDERS...MY DAUGHTER IN LAW HAS THE SMALLL EMBROIDERY ONLY MACHINE BY BROTHER...SHE REALLY LIKES IT...BROTHER HAS WONDERFUL MACHINES OF ALL $ AMOUNTS...
GET WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD.....
Diane...p38flygirl

I have the SE-350 Embroidery machine from Brother, cost under $400 and I love it!!