BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Embroidery Machine embroidery, anybody?

I went shopping on the weekend for an embroidery machine - not to buy to to compare for an article doing a comparasion on embroidery machines.

What is your favorite embroidery machine? Why do you like it? What features does it have?

What is the absolute worst embroidery machine you've used?

My wife uses the Bernina 180 and the Bernina 185.
She has not used any others, but she has friends who use a variety of others. The long and the short of it, we think, is every machine has its good and bad points. The best advice is, find a good and helpful dealer, who gives excellent services and who the maintenance and repairs themselves by preference.
The machine you buy is the one the dealer sells.

A friend who runs a sewing school has a variety of embroidery machines. She loves the Brother 2000. There is a newer version which she bought, but hated.

I know it depends on your personal needs and preferences, but it does everything she needs and more, without being too confusing. If I can get hold of her I will ask her for a more detailed explanation.

Thank you - both of you. Not being a machine embroiderer myself, it can make this aspect of embroidery a little difficult for me to write articles on - so I rely on those who can to give me tips!

I don't know if you still want an answer but I am new to this site I have 2 Embroidery Machines, & I love my Desiger 1 it is a husqvarna, because the bubbin thread cuts off fo ryou & you can put a new bobbin in the case with out taking off the hoop, & you can up grade it easy you don't have to buy a new machine just go to the site & down load thwe upgrade & in sert the disk into your sewing machine & done.. I have been embroideing for 15 years ,Happy embroidering Shrabar <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> [email]sewingsh[/email] @yahoo.com [color:"blue"] [/color]

Wow, Shrabar! That sounds neat! In your 15 years doing machine embroidery you must have seen a lot of changes!

Funnily enough, my sewing machine is a 1960's Elna that was the top of the range then - and that also does embroidery stitches using cams for different patterns (at the time, they were amezing, but you look at them now and they are very simplistic). Still - it's amazing when you look at what was top technology then, compared to now.

Funnily enough, my machine is as old as me and it's still runnning perfectly with a service every year. Weighs a ton though, as it's all metal!

I use Janome Customizer. This is good and not expensive machine. I sew a lot of patterns each day you can see the examples here
http://machine-embroidery-designs.us
http://cross-stitch-patterns.us

Since I wrote a year ago, my wife has traded in her Bernina 185 for a Pfaff 2170. This is the top of the line Pfaff. Her main reason was a wider hoop. She finds the Bernina hoop a bit narrow. Paradoxically, the 180 has a wider hoop than the 185, 200 or the new Auroras. Those hoops are very nice to use, easy to hoop and all that, but she says too narrow. New machines with new features keep coming out. Singer does not have a good service in our state, otherwise she might have gone to Singer, their top of the line has some very neat features. I am not quite sure why she preferred the Pfaff to the Husqvarna, now owned by the same company by the way, price had to do with it. My daughter has bought the stand alone Janome and is happy with it. It all boils down to price and personal preference. Also find a dealer who gives good service, who not only services the machines him or her self, but who also understands the software. Then pick whatever brand they represent.

I think you're right, fritsau. Embroidery machines are almost as complex as PC's now, so it's even more important that you find a technician that can not only handle the mechanical side, but also the electronics / IT.

I have a friend who's son is to start Uni next year, and he's going to do a Mechatronic Engineering degree, with the sole purpose of starting his own business servicing the new breed of high-end electronic sewing machines.

I have a husqvarna vinking 1+ that I bought used and I love it. I got a lap top for it and thousands of designs. Someday I want the husqvarna Designer 1. When you deciede what kind you want I would go to ebay and get it. You can get new ones at half the price of stores. Dee

I have the Bernina 200E which I love! But it is also a little pricey. It does everything I need it to do. The newer Bernina has even better features, so check that one out too.

Cecile
http://www.stitchedsilly.com

I just purchased a singer futura ce 200 and i am stuck. This red light keeps blinking, it will not even begin to make any design. I followed the instructions and it is threaded the right way. I need help! Does anyone own one of these machines? Please help. Any advice would be great.

carissalime why don't you check one onf the embroidery forums:
http://forums.marthapullen.com/list.php?f=7 this is a good one, having some problems with spam but some really good ladies.
http://www.myembroideryhaven.com/forum/index.php some fantasitc ladies...owner is a digitizer.

Joan

What an annoying problem, carissalime! My suggestion is that you go to the store you bought it from (or phone them) and ask if they know what it is. Could it be that you need to insert a card or memory stick with a design on it somewhere before it will stitch?

Cams!! I had an old Singer machine that had the cams for decorative stitching. I sold it when my (now) ex-husband wanted money for something. Should have sold him instead. I really enjoyed that machine and if I ever found one in an antique shop or somewhere, I would be very tempted to buy it, although I have two good machines now. Maybe someday I will invest in an embroidery machine, but for now my machines do great.

I can't really compare other machines because I just bought my first one not that long ago. I bought the Jamone 9500. I love the machine but the software I bought to digitize stuff I am not crazy about (I guess because it's harder then I thought it would be..lol..)

You can see some of the stuff I have done on my blog at
BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Each machine has its own little features. My wife went to Pfaff because of the built in differential feed.
As far as the Singer is concerned, of course go to the shop where you bought it, if you bought it some other way (Ebay or somewhere equally dangerous) you should still go to a dealer and ask for help, it may not be free, but at least you will be able to use it.
Every sewing machine shop we talk to says the same, Singer gives lousy back up to shops in Australia. This may be different in other countries.

Hi, The worst emroidery machine I ever bought was from a firm call Joys Sewing Machines in Derby. England. Turned out they were the European distributor for copies of what looked like Brother machines. If it had done all it said it could it would have been fantastic but I never got the chance to find out as the start button fell into the casing when I pressed it! Still waiting on an explanation and refund after returning it a month ago.

Wow, Hazbas, that does sound like you were sold a lemon of a machine! Keep us up to date with your progress (if there is any).

Hello!
I was talking with a friend of mine and she wanted to see the machine I bought. So, I worked some short clips into my blog of it. Your more the welcome to check them out.
BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

My favorite sewing machine is the singer.

Dora - the Janome is a good machine - they were born from the Elna brand (have I ever mentioned how much I love my Elna? It was my late mother's and is older than I am). Nancy - Singer is a brand you just can't go wrong with. They were one of the first brands of sewing machine, so have a lot of experience!