Embroidery Sewing Machines
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The popularity of embroidery sewing machines with home sewing enthusiasts has been strong for years and shows no sign of slowing down. I don’t think it ever will. It makes ordinary people designers and provides you the ability to take something from plain to fancy at the push of a button!
Just like regular
sewing machines
, those that convert to embroidery now come in all brands and all sizes. Prices range from around four hundred dollars to about six thousand as the computers inside them get more sophisticated and the machines have more functions. You can find them in discount stores, on-line, and of course at dealers which is where I recommend you purchase one. If you want to invest in a home sized commercial embroidery machine, pricing starts around seven thousand for refurbished and around nine thousand for brand new.
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I bought my first embroidery sewing machine (a Babylock) several years ago, not because I was specifically interested in doing embroidery, but not wanting to miss out on the feature. I gave it a try and once I got past the learning curve for hooping, I was hooked. Oh my gosh, was I hooked. That first year, I spent a small fortune buying designs, stabilizers and accessories. I went nuts! It was addicting. I even bought expensive digitizing software and am contemplating adding more. Businesses that specialize in providing for the home machine embroiderer are booming and they keep introducing new and better products all the time. Businesses that specialize in selling machine embroidery designs are also booming, just be careful who you buy from so you won't get stuck with a design that doesn't stitch out properly.
Consider This!
Before you invest in an embroidery sewing machine, other than determining how much you want to spend, you need to ask yourself an important question.
Do you want to buy designs that are already digitized which you purchase loaded on cards as well as by downloading them directly from the web... OR... do you want to learn how to digitize your own designs? The answer to that question could save you, or cost you, a lot of money because you HAVE to have special software and a card writer/reader in order to sew out machine embroidery designs.
This can be an investment of anywhere from $200+ dollars to several thousand... so spend some time thinking about what you really want to do.
If you are eager to get started buying, downloading and sewing out the thousands of designs available and are not interested in the process of learning to digitize (or letting your software digitize the designs for you), then all you need to invest in is a software program and card reader specifically made for transfering designs to your embroidery machine.
One I started with years ago and still recommend to people is the Vikant Ultimate Box. It's affordable and it works will all machines. You will be able to download (transfer) digitized designs to your computer, then take those designs and copy them to a specialized memory card via a "card reader/writer". This memory card then fits into your machine's card slot. Your embroidery machine then reads the card and turns the design into stitches. Some embroidery sewing machines come with USB ports which allow you to connect directly to your computer which means you don't have to use the card every time.
If you are interested in actually learning to digitize (and I'm not talking about auto-digitizing where your program does it for you) then you should talk to people who have such programs, talk to dealers who sell them and do your homework! Research, research, research! There are many on the market. (Since I have BabyLock machines, I use the Palette and Designer's Gallery software.) Prices for digitizing software start around $900 and go up into the thousands for commercial/professional digitizing programs. Your brand of embroidery machine will determine the software embroidery "language" that your designs are saved and sewn out in. Digitizing software will allow you to save, convert, and work with all them.
Like your choice of machine, your choice of software is an investment so consider it wisely!
Want to know a little more?
Working with embroidery sewing machines.
One thing I do want to point out. Many people make their living creating original digitized machine embroidery designs to sell and when these designs are pirated, copied, and sold, it affects a lot of people. Not to mention the fact that doing so violates copyright laws and is illegal! Be careful where you buy your designs as well as what you do with them.
I hope this page interests you enough to look further into machine embroidery and embroidery sewing machines. Just be sure to come back from time to time to see what's been added.
Happy stitching!
