Welcome to the World of Machine Embroidery.

A world that is both fun and scary, beautiful, and frustrating. All within a five-minute embroidery session.
Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE
The word itself says
“I’M POSSIBLE.”
-Audrey Hepburn

By the end of this blog, you will have a great foundation in stitching beautiful embroidery designs with the embroidery machine that works for your budget, project types, and a community to support you.
Join us in our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/EmbroideryforBeginners/

Machine Embroidery

What is Machine Embroidery?
Machine embroidery is the art of adding  stitches to blanks (quilts, t-shirts, hats, vinyl, and any other substrate you can think of to stitch on) in a designated pattern defined by the design file your embroidery machine reads.
Embroidery Machines read a digitized file to tell the machine what to do and when to do it: such as
What type of stitch to add
Where to place the stitch
How many stitches to place
Location of the stitches to be placed
Color of the stitches to be placed.

For your embroidery machine to stitch a logo – the logo file would need to be digitized (the art of adding placement stitches to the vector or raster art ) in the file type your machine reads. This blog does not cover digitizing. Digitizing is a separate discipline from embroidery.

2.) What Embroidery Machine Should I Buy?
I wish I had a magic wand to let you know what is the best machine for your situation.
But I don’t have one. So, I will do my best to explain what I have explained to our many new Beginner Embroiders in our Facebook Group.

1- What is your budget? – Embroidery Machines can vary in pricing from $300 for a Brother Single Needle Embroidery Machine with a 4″x4″ hoop to $8,000 – for a Redline 1501 -15 Needle Commercial type machine with a 17″ x 14″ hoop. So, you have plenty of embroidery machine options to research.

The one thing I have noticed in my research of machine embroidery is the lack of discussion on all the supplies you will need to get started in successfully embroidering your projects. So, when factoring your budget, you need to include these products in your budget. Stabilizers – Threads – Scissors – Blanks to stitch on, and you will want software. (Software in not 100% necessary when you unbox your machine. But, TRUST me, you will want to get it – To add monograms and names, merge designs, and customize your pre-digitized files) Some examples are SewWhat Pro- Embrillance – Wilcom Customizer. The Cost of software starts at $65 for Sew What Pro and can reach into the thousands.

2- What are your plans for your future embroidery machine?
Quilt blocks, towels, t-shirts, Free Standing Lace (FSL)? Do you want to embroidery for family, friends, and maybe on a small business scale?

Or do you want to embroidery in a production type situation? Such as hats, jacket backs, on a more substantial business scale?

This information will dictate what size hoop you need.
The hoop size dictates what size design you can stitch.
So, if you purchase a 4″x 4″ embroidery machine (under $300), doing Carhart jackets in a production style environment. It is probably not the right machine for you.
You would want to look into a commercial style machine such as a Redline 15 needle Commerical Embroidery Machine with a max embroidery sewing field of 17″ X 14″ for under $8,000

The two most popular starter machines for home embroiders that are available that you can purchase online are.
Brother 4″x4″ – such as an SE625
Brother 5″x7″ – such as a PE 800
Both of these machines are great starter machines and will allow you to see if embroidery is even a hobby you will enjoy.