Please could someone explain machine embroidery to a complete novice?

[CuppaTeaJanice]

I have a very basic sewing machine. It goes forwards and backwards, and zigzag. That's the extent of it's capabilities. I can, if I work very slowly and carefully, cobble together a kind of mish-mash of embroidery and applique, which usually involves a certain amount of hand finishing and embellishment. However I've seen machine embroidery on shop-bought clothes - little flowers, stars, fruit etc., and realised I have no clue what it would take to enable me to produce something similar at home.

Would I need a specific embroidery machine, presumably computerised? Or do modern machines do the whole gamut of sewing - straight stitch, various zigzags, motifs etc.? What should I look out for in terms of features, makes, keywords etc.?

How much would suitable equipment cost? Would I be able to pick up something secondhand for a couple of hundred pounds or is that wildly optimistic?

I realise I sound completely ignorant - I do have a GCSE in textiles but that was back in the dark ages before fancy sewing machines existed

Anybody?

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Nobody wants to talk to me................

Bumping as I'd also like to know

You need a specialised machine. Brother or Janome do them. Not cheap, I think the cheapest is about £380+vat, but may be more.

They hve a bank of a few designs, but you can download them. You can buy software to create your own

Hi, you do need a specialised machine. I use a Janome 200e, this has around 70 designs built in plus 3 different fonts. The fonts can be sized up or down. It also has a usb port to download designs from the internet to a memory stick. It will do designs up to 140mm sqaure but other machines have different sized hoops. Some do up to 300mm and larger.

This was £400 but it was on special at the time. Brother PE 150 or 180 are older machines and come on ebay a fair bit - theres some at the moment and usually go for a couple of hundred. I've seen some good reviews of them. You can get combined machines, these have an embroidery unit and also work as a regular sewing machine - Brother Innovis 950 is one. Janome also do combined machines I think. If you have a decent shop near you it might be worth having a play!

Its a different type of sewing to what I usually do. You need different stabilisers depending on your fabric, then hoop it all togther, pick you design and start - then watch it sew!

It is possible to digitize your own designs, both Brother and Janome have their own software but I haven't got that far yet!

Thankyou!!!!

It sounds like it might be possible to get something in budget then!

Are they quite easy to use? Presumably you just load them up with a few colours of thread, then press a few buttons to select the design and size, and the machine does the rest?

Hi,

I was a bit scared of it when I first got it but its dead easy to use. I use machine embroidery thread in mine, it tells you when to change the colour and stops - you change the thread and press go then it starts where it left off. You can leave it - it beeps if it needs attention but I still sit and watch it. Anything you need to do is on the screen - all I need to do is follow instructions.

Strangely its the one crafty thing my geeky dh is fascinated by ! Its a mix of tech and craft eally especialy when you get onto digitizing your own stuff. I will warn you though - its addictive! I have plans for towels, bedding, tablecloths etc as well as clothes. All I need is time!

Thanks! I really want one now!! I'm going to keep my eyes peeled - hopefully I'll find a machine I can afford soon.