weezie

I have a Janome 11000. It does a good job, but has been back to the dealer more times than I can count. At the time I bought it I was wanting to upgrade because my workhorse Janome is old and did not have all the bells and whistles that I thought I needed. However, if I had it to do it over again, I believe I'd buy a dedicated embroidery machine and just continue to use my old machines for everything else. Janome makes the MB4; Brother makes an "embroidery only" machine that I'd love to have, but all Brother dealers are too many miles and too much traffic away from my house.

Also, according to the dealer from whom I bought the Janome 11000, the low-end machines will not hold up to constant use, i.e., if you do a lot of M.E., you should have a high end (read "expensive") machine. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but that begs the question, "What if I spend a lot of $$$ on an embroidery machine and then I don't like machine embroidery?" I see "barely used" ones for sale all the time on-line.

reneebobby

I have a brother and love it. Biggest suggestion is buy the machine with different size hoops (not just one) because once you start you will want to keep going. Also another thing is make sure it have a USB port if not I wouldn't even bother because of all the other up grades you will need to even get started. I hope this helps

kathy

Singer is probably the cheapest, I got mine for around 500$, I use it a lot and my ONLY complaint is that the largest hoop is 5X7 but the largest design I can do is 4X5 :-( other than that I love it and it can read all the formats of other machines.

Papa John

I'm also interested in a EM but I have no experience with them and even less knowledge. Most of the machines I see look like sewing machines with a larger work area, so how do you do multiple color designs unless you buy a machine that holds 6 different color threads? I understand about the different manufacturers using their own programing languages, are there machines that read most of them or can you buy a program the translates the different languages into useful languages for your machine? I'll stop with my questions for now but I reserve the right to ask more. ;-)

weezie

Here's the skinny as I see it: Unless you buy a professional EM, you have to change the thread for each new color, which is not a big deal really. The machines have auto threaders, but I don't like auto threaders and don't use mine. To be effective, the needle eye has to be fairly large, but I usually use the finer needles where the eye is too small, plus both polyester and rayon embroidery thread strands separate easily and my auto threader has a tendency to shred the thread, so I just thread the needle myself. I have excellent "close-up" vision, so this is no problem for me, but it might be for others.

Re: the different formats. Most designs (but not all of them) you buy or download come in all formats ... you just buy or download the one your machine uses. For the ones that you download to your computer, there are free software programs available to download and install on your computer that will change the design format for you. There are also many available that are not free and, as you become familiar with everything, you will know what program(s) you want.

It is most important that your new ME machine have a USB port where you can hook up to your computer to transfer designs, etc.

You should go on-line and look at embroidery machines via a search engine (Google or whatever), then go to the HOME page of the manufacturer. There you will find a listing of all their machines that do embroidery and the specifications for each machine. Often, you can find an on-line manual that you can look at which will tell you much more than I can.

It is an expensive "hobby"; it requires specific threads, including bobbin, and various kinds/weights of stabilizers and most of the better designs are not free. There are plenty of good free ones to get you started. There's a big learning curve, but if it's something you like, it's a fun learning curve. And, as in quilting, there are lots of groups you can join and lots of helpful people.

mosher92

My goodness. I know a lot more now than I did when my search began. Thank you everyone for your help. I don't know if I mentioned it but i am in the beginning stages of the puchase so it will take me some time to pull all the information together. I knew if I mentioned it in this group I would get some good feedback and I have. Thanks again

Olivia's Grammy

Isn't this board the greatest. So much info at our finger tips all for the asking.

LindaR

you can't go wrong with any brother...I have a 270D that I started out with and use for 4x4 emb and to take to retreats...and a 8500 pacesetter that is almost mistake free...really works good...byw, the 270D is really inexpensive on ebay from Ken's in Alabama or allbrands.com....I bought mine from overstock.com and got 2.95 shipping which you can't beat...good luck