Embroidery machine recommendations?

[UpState]

Can anyone recommend a good quality (new) embroidery machine in the $500-$800 range? Don't need one for commercial use...just one for occasional grand kids names and small graphics.

Thanks

[Grebo]

I have a brother 750e home embroidery machine.
Very happy with the machine it's simple to use & it's surprising what it will stitch through.
Vinyl/ Leather.
It has lots of inbuilt patterns & 6 alphabets. It takes a memory stick if you want to download any patterns from the net.
Bear in mind if you want to get creative that you will need to get a software package as well as the machine that can be $$$ I have one called Embird because you can buy the bits you need separately.
All machine makers have there own packages as well.
There are other similar machines, another thing to look at is the max hoop size, some are very small. That doesn't mean to say you can't sew big patterns but it gets more complicated as you will need to split the pattern up & move the hoop about.
Suzi

[marko69]

I don't think you can go wrong with a Brother.  I have a PE-700 and two other  older models.  It's a great machine.  The newer model is a PE-770 and it's well within your price range.
What ever you get, make sure it has automatic tension.   

[UpState]

Thanks for the tips...just started looking into them.

Ed

[Mike]

would a brother home machine do somthing about 9" long ?  id like to be able to do loga like this
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy102/Mike8560/seacraft/6c31a70e.jpg

[MinUph]

Mike,
  Most home machines are limited in the size of the hoops. Take the Brother PE770 for example. It has a 5x7 embroidery area to work with. While you can split designs and move it in the hoop it isn't all that simple to keep aligned and spaced properly. Especially for someone with little or no usage experience. I would have that logo done in a shop. I have a home embroidery machine from Singer that does nice work and have done embroidery on vinyl with it. But the size limit is an issue.

[Mike]

Thanks. I have found a place here that have done 3 pieces like that. For $35

[Mojo]

I know very little about these machines. OK I admit I know nothing about them. I can remember touring an embroidery place and the owner said he had over a million dollars tied up in machines and equipment. Mind you this guy did uniforms for college teams and many big corporations.

I had a friend who had a $ 30 K machine and it turned out awesome looking products. The home machine work I have seen doesn't seem to have as many stitches, is loose and doesn't compare to the quality machine work. Is this because of the way the operator sets up the machine ? Or do they always provide a somewhat loose stitch and not as many stitches per inch ? 

Chris

[MinUph]

Chris,
  A home machine does a good job if you know how to use it. It takes some practice. There are many things that would affect the amount of stitches including the design file itself. You can modify the type of stitch when building the design file among other things.

[Mojo]

Thanks Paul. :) I understand a bit better now.

Chris

[Grebo]

I have an extra large hoop for my brother it is 12" x 5" I recently did a logo for the back of a fleece jacket which was about 9" x 2". Turned out real nice. I used the automatic splitting function in the Embird program & only had to move the hoop once without taking the material out of it.


I did some experiments when I first got the machine.


I found the biggest problem was, if you don't hoop the material & the stabilizer together, but just stick the material to it, the thicker materials ( in this case fluted vinyl ) can move about &  mess up the stitching. One layer of vinyl was no problem.

Yes Chris it is down to setting up the machine to the fabric & the stitch count, orientation to stretch, stitch 'pull'  etc, etc.....It's a great time waster, if you are only going to do the odd job, definitely get someone else to do it, but if like me  ;D you are going to do odds n ends ( bedding, towels etc) be prepared to spend some time teaching your self. I have decided 'this year'  ::) I will put aside a few hours a week to 'keep my hand in'  So that 'little job' stays that way & doesn't become a whole day, messing about remembering what to do.  ;)

Suzi