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I was going to get a regular sewing machine, but it was only about $50 extra for one that could also do embroidery. The machine I decided to get was the Brother LB6800PRW. This is exactly the same as the SE-400, except it comes with a carry-cart for portability, and has some 'project runway' branding on it. Both have a 100mm by 100mm embroidery field (4 inches by 4 inches, though the hoop looks bigger in pictures). The LB6800PRW was only a few dollars more than the SE-400 when I purchased it, and the bag that comes with the LB6800PRW will at least keep the dust off the machine once I get bored with it. Both the SE-400 and this one have 512k of memory that can be accessed though USB, so you can make and load embroidery patterns from a computer. I don't understand why that is even optional, all embroidery machines should allow USB connectivity, there is more than just letters to embroider. Software to make your own embroidery is another matter, as nothing comes with the machine for making customized patterns, and it is pretty expensive, so keep that in mind.
The machine has a touch screen for choosing stitches and built in patterns, which I like. I don't like that the default stitch is one that I will never use (left stitch instead of centered in the foot), but I got used to always changing it pretty quickly. The auto-threader is awesome as well, threading the needle was usually a pain, especially with thicker thread. No issues on this one after a few months of use. The auto-thread-cut is a great feature as well (push a button and the machine cuts the top and bobbin thread)
The first thing I did was make some curtains for a small half-moon window in my bedroom. There is an annoying streetlight right on the other side, so it definitely needed a curtain. Trimming one from the store to 24" long solved the problem nicely. The machine did great, though it was only about 40 inches of sewing. No issues to speak of. The feed tracks straight, so when sewing only minimal left-right adjustment is needed to stay on track.
Once that was completed, I wanted to try out the embroidery functions. There were 2 main projects I wanted to use the machine for. Those were a custom shirt for someone at work, and a baby bib for a friend who is having a baby. the first thing I tried was putting my name on a towel for a test using the built in embroidery font. That failed miserably on the first try because I did not use a stabilizer. The instructions said a stabilizer was 'recommended', but it is actually pretty much required. I have yet to find a fabric that can be embroidered on this machine without a stabilizer.
Once I put on a stabilizer, the result looked fine when I took it out of the machine, but as I started to trim the jumps between letters, the thread started unraveling. I put it back in the machine and embroidered my name right over the existing design again, and paid more attention to what the machine was doing. Sure enough, the machine was not locking the thread at the beginning and end of each letter (backing up and going over the thread again to keep it from unraveling). That's a pretty big oversight in the programming. I was able to get around it by manually going over the end of each letter. Still, it was an annoyance, and the results didn't look as good as I would have liked. Some letters are worse than others, with the lowercase 'A' being the worst. In some instances, the 'A' would start unraveling while the next letter was being sewn.
I also broke a needle by following the instructions. The instructions state to gently hold the tread for the first few stitches, so the top thread doesn't pull out of the needle. Well, 'gentle' is actually 'not at all' as the needle can only take a very small amount of force before bending enough to hit the foot and break on the down stroke. So I swapped out the needle, and made my first accessory purchase, a pack of 100 needles.
After giving up on the built in fonts, I tried some graphical embroidery. I looked around for some patterns (besides the ones on the machine) and found that they all cost a decent amount of money. I found a free dragon finally, and put it on a wash towel using some overlock thread I had laying around. It looked really good, and the design had the lock stitches built into it correctly. It was actually a surprising amount of stitches, more than 10,000. It took about 20 minutes for the machine to sew it, so the machine averaged about 500 stitches per minute on that design. I timed a few different designs, and it looks like the average speed is around 300 stitches per minute. I wish there was a way to slow down the machine manually sometimes; I think some designs and fabric would benefit from that.
Since the first try, I have embroidered more than 50 different things with this machine (shirts, patches, dinner napkins, towels, felt), almost all of them custom designs that I created using software called Embird Digitizing Studio. So far, the machine has worked great! Moving designs from a computer to the machine is easy as cake. A regular USB cable is used, and the sewing machine shows up as a drive on the computer. All that is needed is to copy/paste over a design. I tried Windows 7, XP, and a flavor of Linux and they do not have an issue accessing the machine.
I have done surprisingly little regular sewing on the machine, but it works well, with no issues there either. The only things I think could be better is that the cord for the foot pedal comes out of the side of the pedal instead of the back, and the pedal has almost no weight to it. The combination of these 2 things make it so the pedal can move around on the floor when you don't want it to.
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Now that I have had this machine for about a year, I can add more to this review. My LB6800PRW is starting to show it's age I use it all the time, it is just too much fun making stuff! I can't figure out how to check the stitch count, but back of the envelope math on how much stabilizer & thread I have used says I am somewhere between 20 and 30 million, with only a few minor problems along the way.
I do swap out needles often, since they are only about a dime when you get a hundred at a time. I have used about 75 or so. There is no reason not to swap them out often, besides that it is somewhat of a pain to do it if you have larger fingers like I do. I have managed to break a few needles, most of the time it is due to the thread wrapping around the spool pin when unwinding. It happens maybe once a month, so it isn't too bad. I used to wind my own bobbins for embroidery, but that takes until forever, so I switched to prewound ones. I really like the ones from World Weidner here on Amazon, they have constant tension, and unspool well. Several other brands I have tried have winding knots in them, and will jam the machine. I have never had that problem with World Weidner's, and I went though 2 gross of them so far.
One of the problems that I had was that the needle threader stopped working. When I pressed it, it would stick at the bottom, and not try to 'wrap' the needle. I took the needle threader apart, and used a drop of sewing machine lubricant on it, and gently worked it a few times. The needle threader then worked again. I have had to do this twice in the last year.
The embroidery foot itself actually wore out as well. The foot moves up and down with each stitch, and the guide pin actually elongated the hole of the presser foot. This made the foot move enough so that it would block the needle threader, and too much more wear would have allowed the needle to hit the presser foot. I looked all over for a replacement, and couldn't find one on Amazon. I ordered one direct from Brother for about $15 because I could not find it anywhere. It is part number XD0474151, and fits both the SE400, and the LB6800PRW. 20 million stitches sounds more than fair for how long it lasted.
Besides those 2 things, the machine has been flawless. I need to clean the lint out of it and wipe it down, but those are both normal maintenance things. It runs like champ both when doing embroidery and regular sewing. All in all, I highly recommend this machine. I even bought another (though the SE400 instead because I didn't need a case) to give as a Christmas present. It is very quiet, and can sew circles around any machine I have used in the past.
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