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Anyone know if this the best "consumer-level" machine for this sort of stuff? https://www.amazon.com/Brother-SE400-Combination-Computerized-Sewing/dp/B003AVMZA

Anyone know if this the best "consumer-level" machine for this sort of stuff? https://www.amazon.com/Brother-SE400-Combination-Computerized-Sewing/dp/B003AVMZA4 https://www.amazon.com/Brother-SE400-Combination-Computerize... If so, what would be the next likely step up?

kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
The SE400 isn't bad but the hoop size is a bit limiting. Beware that Brother intentionally slows down its cheaper machines but they are still quite usable. They also intentionally limit the clearance under the arm of their cheaper machines which can be frustrating with conventional sewing. I would recommend picking up an "obsolete" home embroidery machine. Models that were top of the line 10+ years ago can be had for a steal and most have seen little use. That will require sacrificing USB connectivity but you can get a more capable machine in the end.
schacon 9y ago
I have actually done a number of sweatshirts for my family and friends with this and it's a pretty great machine. If you've never done embroidery and want to start with a cheap and capable machine, I can vouch for this one. It's also a pretty solid sewing machine that I use a lot for fixing my kid's clothes or working on Halloween costumes, etc. I've been personally using the SewArt software (paid $75) with Wine emulator on my Mac and it miraculously works. I'm looking forward to trying out this Inkscape extension, the SewArt stuff is hilariously bad while simultaneously being one of the most expensive software licenses on my computer. Fun fact, this machine has 476KB (kilobytes!!) of memory to hold these designs, which is smaller than I thought possible for consumer hardware in this day. How do you outfit a machine with a USB connector and then put 400k of memory on it? Also fun, your PES file sizes can't be more than around 40k.

kevin_thibedeau 9y ago

The SE400 isn't bad but the hoop size is a bit limiting. Beware that Brother intentionally slows down its cheaper machines but they are still quite usable. They also intentionally limit the clearance under the arm of their cheaper machines which can be frustrating with conventional sewing. I would recommend picking up an "obsolete" home embroidery machine. Models that were top of the line 10+ years ago can be had for a steal and most have seen little use. That will require sacrificing USB connectivity but you can get a more capable machine in the end.

schacon 9y ago

I have actually done a number of sweatshirts for my family and friends with this and it's a pretty great machine. If you've never done embroidery and want to start with a cheap and capable machine, I can vouch for this one. It's also a pretty solid sewing machine that I use a lot for fixing my kid's clothes or working on Halloween costumes, etc. I've been personally using the SewArt software (paid $75) with Wine emulator on my Mac and it miraculously works. I'm looking forward to trying out this Inkscape extension, the SewArt stuff is hilariously bad while simultaneously being one of the most expensive software licenses on my computer. Fun fact, this machine has 476KB (kilobytes!!) of memory to hold these designs, which is smaller than I thought possible for consumer hardware in this day. How do you outfit a machine with a USB connector and then put 400k of memory on it? Also fun, your PES file sizes can't be more than around 40k.