Machine Embroidery fun!

  After discovering  that I was having a bit of a crisis over the fact that I'm turning 40 my husband  and mom decided to team up and get me something extra special for my birthday. My husband being the practical guy he is just asked me point blank what to buy. My first reaction was "oh don't get me anything, just take me out" but after some consideration I decided what I'd really like is a new embroidery machine.

  I've had several. I started with a little Brother SE-350, a sewing/embroidery machine that was very reasonably priced and perfect for a beginner. I LOVE that machine, it is a little workhorse, and so so easy to use. I used that machine until I was sure it would die of shear exhaustion. Nearly everything that I made for my Etsy shop was made on that machine. The only bad thing about that model is that the embroidery field is quite small and in order to make anything larger that 4x4 you must rehoop. Wanting a larger field I made the mistake of purchasing a Singer CE-150( i think that is the model, could be wrong) BIG mistake, it is a horrible horrible machine, in my opinion. I have since read customer reviews and so wish I would have done so prior to buying it. I could go on and on about it but I'll leave it at we were not a good fit.

  About a year and a half ago when I knew that sewing was a hobby that was going to stick I invested in a really good machine, a Bernina. I bought the whole package, including the embroidery module. I instantly fell in love with sewing with my Bernina but not so much with the embroidery module, I found the software not the most user friendly and my computer often failed to recognize the module and communicate with it. Overall, not so great. The module itself was about $1000 and I didn't want a thousand dollar piece of equipment that drove me nuts so the sewing shop offered to let me return the module and put it toward something else. I chose a Bernina serger and again fell in love. I never regretted my decision and went back to work on my Brother machine.

  Cut to now and choosing a new machine, my first thought was to get the module for my Bernina again. I was so sad to find out that the shop that sold me all my Bernina  machines had closed, they were great! I tried another local store, that shall remain nameless, and was told that the module is no longer made but they might have a floor model they could sell me, they'd look into it and call me back. They level of customer service that I received when I called this shop was no where near that of  The Sewing Room, where I had been a regular customer. While waiting for them to call me back, they never did, I started thinking of all the trouble I had with that module and got to thinking about my little Brother machine that never did me wrong.

  In the end I went with a Brother machine a few steps up from my little starter model and I am so impressed! I bought the PE-770 from Amazon, a tip from a dear friend, they are an authorized Brother dealer. The price was amazing and I got it super fast! It was up and running in no time, here she is and a sample applique, the first I tried right out of the box.

  I love that all the thread spools are hidden under the blue cover and it is so simple to use. The quality of the stitching is just incredible. I highly recommend this machine and if you've not tried machine embroidery you really should :) Especially if you're sewing for children, my kids love things personalized and I love adding sweet little embellishments to things I've sewn, once you try it it's easy to get hooked. 

  I wanted to share a few of my favorite sites for boutique-y type embroidery designs, they all have instant downloads of designs.

Planet Applique- Super cute appliques for children and great applique alphas here's a favorite right now

Applique Cafe- Great basics and specialty appliques. Good prices too! A sample design,

The Embroidery Boutique- The first site I found with great designs for kids items. I used this for a onesie for my youngest daughter and put a B in the center.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!