What about the most important question.... "Which machine should I buy?"

I will talk about Brother and Baby Lock brand machines in this next section since we are very familiar with them at ArtisticThreadWorks. This does NOT mean that you would want to limit yourself to just Brother or Baby Lock machines! It just means you should find similar models in other brands that compare to the features on these machines at similar prices.

To help you budget your purchase consider the machine AND additional items. Other expenses include software, thread in various colors, some "stabilizer" and other "doo-dads" like special scissors and related items.

A realistic budget for a new basic 4"x4" machine, software and accessories would be $1,000.  Here is the breakdownof the costs - all prices are approximate....

Brother PE-150 machine $500

Ultimate Box $200

Embird/Iconizer $100

20 spools of thread $100

Stabilizer assortment $50

Total = $950

If you want to sew designs up to 5"x7" size, you could look at the BabyLock Ellure instead. It sells for about $1,000 and changes the total to $1,500 instead.

To get a 6"x10" or 5"x12" field size, you can move up to the Esante for about $2,500 or Ellageo for about $5,000. Again, add another $500 for basic software and accessories. The Ellageo uses floppy disks so you can deduct the $200 for the Ultimate Box.

The other popular brands of home embroidery machines inclue Bernina, Husqvarna, Janome, Pfaff and Viking. Each brand and each machine have features that make them different. Some people may only want to embroider with their machine because they don't like sewing garments or they have a sewing machine already and just want to add machine embroidery. Other people want a machine that does button holes and quilting. That's where you get down to the nitty-gritty of which model is perfect for you.

Here is a little tip we figured out after our first machine purchase.... The most popular design format for home machines is PES. Just like a word processor document from Microsoft Word has a file extension of .doc behind it and a spreadsheet from Excel has a .xls behind it, the software for your sewing machine has a file extension behind it. The most common format is .pes with over 50% of home machines using pes designs. Second most popular is .hus (Husqvarna) with about 20% using .hus format. Third is .dst used in commercial machines from Tajima. The other popular formats are PCS, SEW and JEF.

Software like Embird and BuzzTools will convert from and to all these formats so you can use designs made for a Brother in a Husqvarna machine easily. The exception is in Bernina machines that use .ART format. The only way to convert to .ART format is with a "Magic Box" (about $300) or with Bernina proprietary software ($800 and up). Let me say that again -- while they make a great machine, the .ART format is proprietary to Bernina and they do not allow other companies to make software to convert to the .ART format. If you want to access other design formats, you must use their software.

What if you are going into an embroidery business?

The choices of machines and software (and prices) change significantly for commercial use. If your business is sewing embroidery designs onto things for people, then you will be looking for ease-of-use, production speed, reliability and quality of service instead of just features. Your business won't make money while your machine is down. I won't go into any detail in this article on commercial embroidery because I have another article planned soon for that subject. For now, I can just address a couple of issues in this area.

When we started ArtisticThreadWorks, Holly was thinking about converting people's pet photos into a design and sewing it onto a wall hanging or clothing for the pet owner. We bought a top-end home machine and a lot of accessories and came home with about $8,000 worth of stuff. Even though it was a top-end home machine, it wasn't right for that kind of business. If we started that business plan over again, we would go into a commercial machine instead.

I liken this to taking a trip cross-country from New York to Los Angeles. You could do it in a VW bug or in a Boeing 747. Both would do the job, but which would be less tiring? If you really just wanted to get to LA, why not pay United Airlines to take you there instead? Same thing with embroidery machines. If you are doing the sewing for the fun of it, then a home machine will be a good choice, but for production and high-volume sewing you need a commercial machine.

The final machines I will mention in this article are in the cross-over area between home machines and commercial machines. Brother makes a model PR600 and it also sells under the name of Baby Lock EMP6 with some minor changes. This machine has six threads on it and sells for around $7,000 today. There are probably other "cross-over" machines on the market that I am not aware of too, but we are familiar with these ones since we have two of them. If you are starting in the embroidery business, these might work well for you. Again, we don't mass-produce clothing so they are right for us. They are worth considering for your business.

Update: We now sell the Ultimate Box!