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lisa1978, welcome to the site. I agree about the prices here in Australia, I have a Janome 350E, which I bought when they were first released for $1400. Unfortunately, for you not me, the price has now risen to $2000. It's a beautiful machine, and takes ordinary flash drives - just transfer designs from computer to flash, then plug the flash drive into Janome and go! It's so easy. The Janome 350E is a very sturdy and smooth running machine, I love it and it was a very smart buy. They are more than 12-months old now so you might be able to pick one up quite cheaply (apparently some people trade-up on a regular basis - Oh to have the money to be able to do that!). All the best with whatever you choose, and wishing you many happy hours stitching. Flowers to everyone - your answers are so varied and full of very good advice.
13558Hi Lisa-i have a Brother1200 Innovis, which I think may be comparable to 1000. I LOVE mine-can download designs,etc and sew too!
Home Shopping Network(HSN) has a Brother 750-11 Edition with the USB port for computer downloads of designs-it also sews and they had free shipping! I think it was $799. Brother is very user friendly and they do have free store lessons where I live.Good luck!
89I bought a Brother Galaxy in 1993. My daughter is still using it, although it now becomes a bit unreliable and new print plates seem hard to get, as the model is no longer current. It's one of the first embroidery/sewing machines that were available here and after 15 years much has changed with superior electronics and so on. So that model only takes embroidery cards, but buying PE basic makes using other designs possible. The service here (the Netherlands) is good, so I think much depends upon your dealer. Good luck and happy embroidering.
145190Lisa, i just checked the Brother site for australia and they list that machine as being introduced in 1999. find out how long she has had the machine. I would go to sewforum.com and ask your question on their embroidery forum. You may have to register but it is free and there are lots of aussie gals there. Brother is perhaps the most user friendly of all the home embroidery machines. I have had a little standalone for ten years and it still stitches like a dream. I recently upgraded to a new-to-me Brother Ultima 2002D and like you because I couldn't afford the new ones. I was offered a Husqvarna for less but when I went asking I was told how user unfriendly they were and I didn't have the luxury of a long learning curve. I now have two Brother machines and two Babylocks for sewing and serging. When I asked on the sewforum these were the overwhelming favourites. I am in Canada and we are in the same boat as Australia with the pricing on these machines. So my advice is ask the lady who is selling it if she would do a demo for you, give you the name of the dealer/shop where she has it serviced and plunge in. The price is amazing and you will have fun. :-)
mumra
913Lisa,
I have a Brother PC8500D and love it; have had no problem with it in the four years since I purchased it online. I self taught myself, no classes available since buying it online, but trial and error referring back and forth to the manual, I am using the machine fairly well. The Brother machines are user friendly, but like anything else new, it takes time to feel confident in using. My advice is to stay within your budget, and in buying a used machine, hopefully you will obtain an operating manual with it, and know that it is in good operating condition before you buy. I would never buy a machine with less than a 5x7 stitching area, new or used, because very quickly one tires of being limited to stitching only size 4x4 designs. You can purchase a new Brother P-750 with a 5x7 field for approx. $750; may want to consider saving a little more and get it. But, again, $500 for the one you are speaking of used is a good deal, as long as you know it is in good condition (and still has a manual with it)!
Angel
by anangel
07 Feb 2008
I forgot to mention that it does use Brother design cards. But, I purchased the Vikant Ultimate Box (reader/writer)card to download designs from my computer to stitch out on my machine. It costs about $160 for the Ultimate Box software with card. I really like it over other reader/writer cards because it holds more designs than most. Angel
12500You might want to check out the link on the top bar on this site called "Reviews". I am a Viking Designer SE owner and love it. I started with a Scandinavia 300 which I think was/is reasonable priced machine. I thought it did embroidery very well. I used it for about 2 years before I started my "Trade-Up". I still have it by the way. It has become my basic sewing machine. If you have a color chart it would work very well. Viking does have an excellent trade-up system and have some really good sales. Here in the states they just had some really good deals on used and floor models as well as new ones. What I like about the Designer and SE models is that you have a view screen of what your are stitching as well as a lot of other great features. Didn't mean to go on and on, & on.
62459You need to look at the machine carefully. I am not familiar with that particular machine but have owned (2) brother embroidery machines that took cards. So then to be able to transfer design from websites you need a card reader. I just seen one for $140.00. I agree with lr2008, I have owned a janome embroidery machine, (2) brother machines and a professional tajami 15 head machine and I just bit the bullet and purchased the Husqvarna SE limited. They were offering the 3 year free interest deal which is the only way I could afford it. They do have preloved machines and the free classes and training is well worth it. These machines sew almost as good as the professional one I had. I gave the one brother I had left to my daughter and sold the other one for pennies. I also sold the Janome. I have 2 machines now a serger and the sewing machine. My daughter has a husqvarna lisa that I got new on ebay. We are now a Husqvarna family only....... They have a wide variety of machines so don't let the big price tag on the top of the line scare you........ What ever you do don't buy a white ........ THey are the worse.... Good luck
17I dont want to overstep my bounds here but if you are going to spend money on an embroidery machine why not shoot for the best and purchase one of the Husqvarna Viking embroidery machines..they start at around $400.00 or so..then you would get the warranty, free classes and all..with a brother you wont get free classes to learn how to use it or much of a warranty...Husq. gives free classes when you buy one of their machines,and its the top of the line and you would have a very good quality machine for about what you would spend on the brother.also the trade in value is good if you wanted to update later....perfect for the beginner or novice sewer or machine embroiderer..
http://www.husqvarnaviking.com/us...
where do you live??
by lisa1978
07 Feb 2008
Hi,Thanks for that but i live in australia and i've been looking around for ages and i'll be looking at around $1000 for a new one at the very least,i had a look in a sewing shop afew months back and the cheapest husqvarna viking was $2500, the embroidery machines are real expensive over here. So i found a brother p1000 second hand for $500 and also a bernina deco 600 second hand for $500, so i went for the brother one because it has winiie the pooh designs inbuilt which i liked. I would love to buy a brand new one but i can't afford it at the moment :( Thanks for your replys i appreciate it. Lisa
by katydid
07 Feb 2008
Lisa, I don't know any thing about the bernina deco 600, but I Bernina.Presently,I have a 185e and the new 730e which i love. I don't know what dealers are near you, but to be able to get free lessons and good service is very important. When I took my lessons, I discovered the ladies had many different machines, but had bought the Bernina soft ware. Good luck with what you get and start stitching.
3895Check out this site, its interesting..there is alot of information here if you check the left bar for their site contents..maybe this will help, I couldnt find much else other than sales stuff about the machine. http://sewing.patternreview.com/
3895
